The Suns might have six starters after all

Many NBA teams can look you in the eye and say they have talented bench units, and they’d be right. The Oklahoma City Thunder, with Ajay Mitchell, Jared McCain, and Jaylin Williams; the New York Knicks, with Deuce McBride, Landry Shamet, and Jose Alvarado; and the San Antonio Spurs, with Keldon Johnson and Dylan Harper, all have cases for boasting some of the deepest rosters in the league. But how many of them think they have six starters?

Steve Kerr used that term to describe the 2023-24 Golden State Warriors heading into the season after the team traded for Chris Paul. Paul was coming off a season in which he helped the Suns finish fourth in the West and ranked fifth in the NBA in assists per game. Despite their struggles on the road the season before, the Warriors had one of the best starting lineups in the league and were adding a player who had made his third straight All-Star appearance in 2021-22. While the Suns’ starting lineup during the 2025-26 campaign wasn’t as strong as the Warriors’ was before they added Paul, one major contributor to Phoenix’s surprising success last year is slated to start this season on the bench.

Advertisement

Collin Gillespie.

Gillespie started 70% of the team’s games last season and averaged career highs in nearly every statistical category. He’s now slated to be the Suns’ first man off the bench, with Jalen Green taking his place in the starting backcourt alongside Devin Booker. While the team had a better record when Gillespie didn’t start (Phoenix was 30-28 in his starts and 15-9 when he didn’t), he played an integral part in the team’s rotations and helped Phoenix reach the playoffs in a season expected to be marked by regression. The Suns also had a higher winning percentage when Gillespie started than when Green did, and their worst stretch of the season came while Green was starting.

Some of Gillespie’s best games of the 2025-26 season came in starts: his 28-point, eight-three-pointer game against the Lakers, his 30-point double-double against the Trail Blazers, and his 25-point outing against the Wizards. With Green out for most of the season, Gillespie took on many of…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/suns-might-six-starters-230000124.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-09-22 23:00:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.