Phx-Suns.Net

#9 Phoenix Suns
Last Week:8↓
Record: 14-12
OffRtg: 114.2 (16) DefRtg: 114.2 (16) NetRtg: -0.0 (17) Pace: 100.0 (23)

The Suns got clobbered by the Thunder in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, and they’ve lost five of their last seven games overall.

Three takeaways

Devin Booker missed three games before returning on Sunday, and this 2-5 stretch has been tough, with all seven games coming against teams ahead of the Suns in the Western Conference standings. They’re 5-7 within the top seven in the West, with none of the other six teams having played more than eight games within the group.

Defense has sparked the Suns’ improvement. They’ve (unsurprisingly) taken a step backward on offense, despite a huge jump in offensive rebounding percentage. They’ve shot much less effectively than they did last season, are one of only four teams that have seen a drop in free-throw rate, and they’ve had the league’s third-biggest jump in turnover rate.

The Suns are the only team that’s beaten the Wolves since Thanksgiving, having held on for a three-point win in Minnesota last Monday. Phoenix has seen the league’s biggest drop in opponent transition points per game from last season, and the Wolves had just 11 (their second-lowest total of the season) in the loss.

Coming up: The Suns have scored just 105.7 points per 100 possessions over eight games against teams that currently rank in the top 10 defensively. They’ll play a pair of games against the Warriors’ fourth-ranked defense this week, having scored just 107 on 100 in a loss in San Francisco last month.

Week 9: vs. GSW, @ GSW

Phoenix has seen the league’s biggest drop in opponent transition points per game from last season, and the Wolves had just 11 (their second-lowest total of the season) in the loss.

sunshoopjunky wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 15, 2025 2:54 pm

Hey Suns fans!
It's been a tough start to the season, and it really makes you wonder about those nail-biter losses. I crunched the numbers on our current 2025-2026 record and those games we dropped by 5 points or less. The difference is pretty wild and shows just how close we are to being a top team in the West!
Here’s the breakdown:
The Close Calls We Almost Won
So far this season, the Suns are 14 wins and 12 losses (14-12). Out of those 12 losses, four were decided by a margin of only 1 to 4 points.
The specific close losses were:
1 point vs Memphis Grizzlies
1 point vs Atlanta Hawks
2 points vs Los Angeles Lakers
4 points @ Oklahoma City Thunder
What Our Record Could Be
If we had closed out those four heartbreaking games, we’d swap those four losses for four wins.
Actual Record: 14-12
Hypothetical Record: 18-8
The Standings Difference
This shift from 14-12 to 18-8 is massive for our position in the Western Conference.
Where we actually are:
We are currently sitting in 7th place in the West.
Where we would be:
With an 18-8 record, we would jump all the way up to a tie for 2nd place in the West! We’d be right up there with the Nuggets and Lakers, just a few games behind the OKC Thunder for the top spot.
It just goes to show how fine the margins are in the NBA. One or two plays in those key moments and our season outlook would be totally different right now. Let’s hope we start closing those games out in the second half of the season!
Go Suns!

BKinSJC wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 15, 2025 3:56 pm

There was also a four-point overtime loss at Utah early in the season; I'm not sure why you're not including that one in this hypothetical. Also, there have been three close games that the Suns actually won - 4 points in the first game of the season against the Kings, and one and three point wins against the TWolves. Especially in that first Wolves game, the opponents utterly collapsed to give away a game that should have been a sure win.

So the real best case, if you want to reverse all the close losses and make them wins, would be 19-7. That's unrealistic, though. Nobody wins all their close games. You could swap the 3-5 record in close games for 5-3, and that would make it 16-10, which wouldn't be bad. Or you could posit worst case, where the Suns don't win any of those games and are 11-15 and barely hanging on to a play-in spot right now. In the end, the record is what it is.

Sorry I don't have a bunch of cute emojis to illustrate. Hope it's readable anyways.

BKinSJC wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 15, 2025 3:56 pm

sunshoopjunky wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 15, 2025 2:54 pm

Hey Suns fans!
It's been a tough start to the season, and it really makes you wonder about those nail-biter losses. I crunched the numbers on our current 2025-2026 record and those games we dropped by 5 points or less. The difference is pretty wild and shows just how close we are to being a top team in the West!
Here’s the breakdown:
The Close Calls We Almost Won
So far this season, the Suns are 14 wins and 12 losses (14-12). Out of those 12 losses, four were decided by a margin of only 1 to 4 points.
The specific close losses were:
1 point vs Memphis Grizzlies
1 point vs Atlanta Hawks
2 points vs Los Angeles Lakers
4 points @ Oklahoma City Thunder
What Our Record Could Be
If we had closed out those four heartbreaking games, we’d swap those four losses for four wins.
Actual Record: 14-12
Hypothetical Record: 18-8
The Standings Difference
This shift from 14-12 to 18-8 is massive for our position in the Western Conference.
Where we actually are:
We are currently sitting in 7th place in the West.
Where we would be:
With an 18-8 record, we would jump all the way up to a tie for 2nd place in the West! We’d be right up there with the Nuggets and Lakers, just a few games behind the OKC Thunder for the top spot.
It just goes to show how fine the margins are in the NBA. One or two plays in those key moments and our season outlook would be totally different right now. Let’s hope we start closing those games out in the second half of the season!
Go Suns!

There was also a four-point overtime loss at Utah early in the season; I'm not sure why you're not including that one in this hypothetical. Also, there have been three close games that the Suns actually won - 4 points in the first game of the season against the Kings, and one and three point wins against the TWolves. Especially in that first Wolves game, the opponents utterly collapsed to give away a game that should have been a sure win.

So the real best case, if you want to reverse all the close losses and make them wins, would be 19-7. That's unrealistic, though. Nobody wins all their close games. You could swap the 3-5 record in close games for 5-3, and that would make it 16-10, which wouldn't be bad. Or you could posit worst case, where the Suns don't win any of those games and are 11-15 and barely hanging on to a play-in spot right now. In the end, the record is what it is.

Sorry I don't have a bunch of cute emojis to illustrate. Hope it's readable anyways.

Superbone wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 19, 2025 9:44 pm

Split T wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 20, 2025 3:58 pm

If Watson was still around then we are talking very early Booker. Probably when Butler was traded to Minny for Lauri and other stuff. That was around the Josh Jackson draft

Split T wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:55 am

On the plus side, it would have made us better that season and kept us from getting the 1st pick in 2018…might’ve meant we drafted Luka, JJJ, Trae, or even Shai.

Split T wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 22, 2025 12:48 pm

lol…or Mo Bamba