Suns News: Week 23 (3/23-3/29)

[Kryptonic]

Last Week's Games
Mon, March 16th @ Boston (L 112-120)
Tues, March 17th @ Minnesota (L 104-116)
Thurs, March 19th @ San Antonio (L 101-100)
Sat, March 21st vs Milwaukee (L 108-105)
Sun, March 22nd vs Toronto (W 120-98)


This Week's Games
Tues, March 24th v Nuggets at 8pm MST TV: NBC, Peacock
Sat, March 28th v Jazz at 7pm MST TV: Suns+, Arizona's Family 3TV

Suns Stories
Seven Days of Sun, Week 22: The dogs days of March
https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/phoe ... dings-2026

Phoenix punched back and ended the slide with authority
https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/phoe ... hoenix-nba

[Kryptonic]

Power Rankings, Week 23: Pistons, Knicks and Celtics jostle in Top 5
https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-23

#12

Phoenix Suns
Last Week:13↑
Record: 40-32

OffRtg: 113.9 (18) DefRtg: 112.8 (10) NetRtg: +1.1 (15) Pace: 98.0 (26)

The Suns had some pretty brutal finishes as they lost five straight games for the first time this season. They also avoided clutch time as they ended the losing streak on Sunday, handing the Raptors one of their worst losses of the season.

Three takeaways

The Suns had fourth-quarter leads of at least seven points in three of the five losses during the streak, but they scored just 25 points on 38 clutch possessions (0.66 per) over the four that were within five in the last five minutes. Devin Booker shot 1-for-9 on clutch shots, also committing five clutch turnovers over the streak. And Rasheer Fleming went 0-for-2 at the line before Victor Wembanyama’s game-winner on Thursday. The Suns are now one of five teams that rank in the bottom 10 in both clutch offense and clutch defense.
Fleming was shooting clutch free throws because the Suns have been shorthanded, well beyond the absence (for 15 games now) of Dillon Brooks. Mark Williams has missed the last 11 games and the Suns have had some lineups comprised of only guards and small forwards over that stretch. They’ve managed on the glass, ranking 16th in rebounding percentage over the 11 games.
The Suns aren’t quite locked into the No. 7 seed in the West, but they’re close. They’re done playing the three other teams – the Clippers, Blazers and Warriors – they might face in the West Play-In, having gone 5-6 (2-3 at home, 3-3 on the road) against them.
Coming up: They still have four games remaining against the top six teams in the West, set to host the Nuggets on Tuesday. They’ve allowed 132.2 points per 100 possessions (their worst mark vs. any opponent) as they’ve lost the first two meetings with Denver.

Week 23: vs. DEN, vs. UTA

[Mori Chu]

Oof, that's a lot of red in last week's games. At least we got the one win, I guess. At this point I kind of think we would lose a play-in 7-8 game vs the Clippers and have to face the winner of the 9-10 game, either the Blazers or Warriors. I think we would probably beat those teams, especially with home-court advantage. So then we would face the OKC Thunder in the first round, and likely get absolutely wrecked. I think that's the most likely outcome at this point, which sucks, but we'll see.

[Superbone]

Wild that the Suns moved UP three spots from 15 to 12 in the Athletic's power rankings after going 1-4 this week.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/714037 ... ed_article

12. Phoenix Suns (40-32)

Last ranking: 15
In the last week: L at BOS, L at MIN, L at SA, L vs MIL, W vs TOR
Offensive rating: 113.9 (18th place)
Defensive rating: 112.8 (10th place)

New players added after Week 1: SF Haywood Highsmith, SF Amir Coffey, PG Jamaree Bouyea
Departed players from Week 1: PF Nigel Hayes-Davis, C Nick Richards

It’s not often that the only game that a team wins in a stretch of five games in seven days is the final one, but that’s what happened for the Suns after a difficult start to the week and a letdown at home against the Bucks (not as bad as Game 5 in 2021, but still bad). Credit the Suns for fighting through physical and mental fatigue and getting a big win against the Raptors. There is a lot of activity in the West standings, but the Suns have had at least a share of seventh place for two months, and that’s where they should expect to stay at this point. They can’t realistically move up, and it’s hard to see them falling off deeper into the Play-In realm. The biggest changes for Phoenix’s rotation involve Collin Gillespie earning a starting role, while Grayson Allen settled into a sixth man role. Royce O’Neale also became a starter at power forward, while Ryan Dunn has fallen out of the rotation. Phoenix has had key players out all season, with Jalen Green struggling to start the season and starters Dillon Brooks (hand) and Mark Williams (foot) missing time currently with multi-week injuries.

[Superbone]

[O_Gardino]

I like Fleming. High hopes for that young man.

[Flagrant Fowl]

In a hypothetical scenario where the Suns have an opportunity to acquire a star-level PF (Giannis, Siakam, Banchero, etc..), they'd very likely have to part with either Fleming or Maluach.

Which rookie would you prefer the Suns keep?

[Aztec Sunsfan]

In a hypothetical scenario where the Suns have an opportunity to acquire a star-level PF (Giannis, Siakam, Banchero, etc..), they'd very likely have to part with either Fleming or Maluach.

Which rookie would you prefer the Suns keep?

Siakam and Giannis are on the wrong side of 30, the latter on an expiring contract and going through a long toxic divorce with his team, I don’t want to be the rebound guy. Dude have mastered the art of passive aggressive injuries to punish or manipulate their team, so I don’t want him to be our next big hope, specially if one or (God forbid) both of the rookies are on the price tag. To boot, it would be like the Durant situation: Buying high and selling low as he approaches 35 while losing his athleticism.

Banchero is just 23 but some metrics hint that his team plays better without him and is more dependent on Wagner and Suggs, so I would not break the bank for the 3rd best player on a play-in team on the eastern conference. Evan Mobley perhaps.

My plan this summer would be to check what is possible to get with a package including Jalen, Royce and/or Dunn (Ryan will be surpassed by Fleming on the rotation at this rhythm anyway). I would trade Green or Allen, but not both, and as gunner from the bench, Grayson have better IQ for half the price.

Hopefully, the Raptors are trying as we are, to balance the talent and pull the plug on his all forward lineup experiment. In that case, Jalen fits their timeline as Barnes’ sidekick and Royce would be a great sixth man for them. Send us Ingram and call it a day.

Ok, maybe a protected 1st from us to cover for the “We made the first contact asking for your former #2 draft player” and to avoid dragging a Green trade all the summer like last year. Our rotation 1-9 would look like this:

Gillespie / Booker /Brooks / Ingram / Williams

Goodwin / Allen / / Fleming / (Hopeful on Maluach to take this spot)

Then situationally use Bouyea, Highsmith, Dunn, Oso plus fillers

And if Toronto rejects us, fine. Let’s call the Pelicans with the same offer for Williamson, as their rookie Quen is making him redundant. The Knicks sent an absurd number of picks for Bridges, and I would love to get him back, but my feelings make me an unreliable negotiator for him.

Bottom line, giving up on Fleming or Maluach would be the Cámara trade all over again, but with higher ceiling of regret. Both are looking more and more special by the day.

[specialsauce]

Fleming is essentially untouchable to me. I would trade Booker before I traded him. Shy of getting a 25 year old superstar, I'm not interested. I think he will be an all star by 25.

[TOO]

Id rather go after Trey Murphy than Zion.

[Split T]

In a hypothetical scenario where the Suns have an opportunity to acquire a star-level PF (Giannis, Siakam, Banchero, etc..), they'd very likely have to part with either Fleming or Maluach.

Which rookie would you prefer the Suns keep?

Fleming, but Maluach is coming along

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Id rather go after Trey Murphy than Zion.

Me too, but he is not redundant and would be pricier, I’m looking for options within the budget (Jalen, Royce, Ryan, one 1st but no rookies)

[Mori Chu]

[Mori Chu]

This is a fun thread. Who is the most underrated Sun of all time? What do you think?

[Split T]

Channing Frye is a good answer. He got a lot of crap for not being a real C, but his spacing from the 5 allowed that offense to work. Shot 44% from 3 during the 2009-10 season.

[ShelC]

I'd go with Uncle Cliffy. He held it down for us at the 4/5, was durable, a great defender and 3pt shooting big when they weren't in vogue. Stepped up when our other marquee signings like Longley and Googs didn't work out.