Suns Season Preview: Depth and chemistry could drive another leap

With the preseason wrapped up, the Phoenix Suns get ready for their season opener in Portland. This is a fun game for the Suns, who faced the Trail Blazers last year for the seventh spot in the Play-In tournament. Unfortunately for the Suns, the Blazers snuck up on them and stole the win, but the Suns were lucky enough to make the play-in tournament as the eighth seed. Phoenix will look to get off to a strong start and avenge last postseason by winning on opening night, and a huge reason they can do that is how cohesive this squad is.

As we noted throughout the offseason, the team made minimal roster changes. They shipped Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen to bring in Miles Bridges, then signed Luke Kennard. Beyond the two-way acquisitions, almost everyone (sorry, Haywood Highsmith) is still on this roster, and a bunch of them signed new deals to stay. That shows the Suns had just the tip of the iceberg last year, and they can fully capitalize on this opportunity.

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Not to mention, Kennard and Bridges will add the areas the team needs. Kennard comes in to try to replicate Allen’s three-point shooting, while Bridges brings more size to the frontcourt, which lacked a natural power forward last season.

That said, key guys like Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin were brought back because of the role and impact they had last season. With both of them back and locked in as the backcourt duo, their chemistry is only going to grow. Add that Gillespie worked well with Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro last year, getting them both comfortable in that bench unit. That leaves me with no fear that he will do the same with Ighodaro and now Khaman Maluach, who has taken this leap.

With this bench unit mostly intact and a few fun new pieces, I’m confident it will be one of the league’s top bench units. Regardless of who starts at center, a lineup with Gillespie, Goodwin, Kennard, Dunn/Fleming, and Ighodaro/Maluach is set up to be a well-oiled, complementary machine. Most of them can shoot threes, and they make the hustle/winning plays we look for as fans. Of course, there can be some concern about a few pieces, and even if…

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Publish date : 2026-10-21 00:00:00

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