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The Houston Rockets faced the Denver Nuggets in unfamiliar territory on Monday. The Rockets entered Monday night’s game on their first two-game losing streak of the season after their 102-99 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

In that game, the Rockets struggled from the field as the Suns led by double digits in the first quarter. The Rockets eventually got back in the game and even took a six-point lead at one point in the second half. Still, even a fourth-quarter resurgence from Alperen Sengun, who struggled the first three quarters, wasn’t enough to keep the Rockets from dropping their second straight game.

Pregame

The Rockets welcomed the Nuggets, who are coming off a win down in Mexico City over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Rockets have been without Steven Adams and Clint Capela for several games and also added Oscar Tshiebwe to their injury report with an illness. That means the Rockets will be without all three of their backup centers, leaving Sengun as the only active center for Monday’s game.

Ime Udoka did mention how both Steven Adams and Clint Capela are targeting the upcoming road trip, specifically the Washington and Miami games, as possible return dates. That would be a welcome sight for a Rockets team that currently ranks 12th in rebounding after being near or at the top every season of Ime Udoka’s Rockets tenure.

Rockets vs Nuggets

The Rockets got off to a fast start, led by Durant, who made his first three shots, including one from beyond the arc. Durant was as aggressive in the first quarter as he has been in several games. The quarter was back and forth, as neither team could get much separation.

The Nuggets started to take advantage of the Rockets’ lack of depth at center as Jokic went to work once Sengun went to the bench. However, the Rockets put together a good finish to the quarter, and a Tari Eason 3-pointer put them up 32-24 at the end of the first quarter. Durant led all scorers with 11 points in the first 12 minutes.

The Rockets carried that momentum into the second quarter, scoring the first 11 points and building a lead of as much as 19. The Rockets played with much more force and composure than in their first half against the Suns. The Rockets had 13 assists out of their first 20 made baskets. The Rockets maintained the lead, taking a 54-40 lead into halftime.

The third quarter saw the Nuggets cut the lead to under double digits early as they started the quarter on fire from the field. The Rockets, meanwhile, saw their shooting fall off a cliff, starting 2-for-14 from the field as the Nuggets came back from an early 18-point deficit to tie the game at 5:02.

That’s when Marcus Smart and Tari Eason entered the game, and the Rockets’ defensive intensity immediately rose. The Rockets strung together good defensive possessions that led to easy baskets and pushed the lead back to nine at 71-62. Despite a rough start to the quarter, the Rockets led 77-68 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, both teams played at a high level for the first time. On one end, Sengun scored in the paint; on the other, Jamal Murray could not miss from mid-range. The Rockets had a slim six-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

That’s when Sengun took over: he not only scored in the paint to give the Rockets a 98-90 lead, but he also assisted on the next two baskets, helping the Rockets put the game away with a 110-100 win. The win snapped the Rockets’ first two-game losing streak of the season.

Postgame:

After the game, Ime Udoka, Kevin Durant, and Alperen Sengun spoke to the media. Udoka said the Rockets did a much better job taking care of the basketball and distributing it, and that they finished with 29 assists. SB Nation asked Durant whether it is easier to figure out the defense when he’s initiating the offense.

Sengun helped close out the Nuggets with his own great passing and running the pick-and-roll with Durant. Here are both players praising each other’s games after last night’s win.

The Rockets now begin preparing for their old nemesis, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, who come to town Wednesday with an 8-3 record and have won their last eight games.

With the Dallas Mavericks down 13 points late in the first half on the second night of a back-to-back, Monday night at American Airlines Center looked very much like a schedule loss. Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving had other ideas, though, as they combined for 78 points, fueling Dallas past the Indiana Pacers in a wild finish, 125-122.

The win was the Mavericks’ third straight and moved Dallas to 7-4 on the season. It also put the Mavs three games over .500 for the first time since March 1, 2025, a date that feels a lot longer ago than it actually is for anyone who has lived through the last two years of Mavericks basketball.

Think about where this franchise was not long ago. The Luka Doncic trade. Irving’s torn ACL. A 26-56 season and back-to-back years without a playoff appearance. Oddsmakers set Dallas’ win total at 34.5 before this season, and after an opening stretch that included Houston, San Antonio and Oklahoma City, a lot of people expected the Mavs to be scrapping just to stay afloat by mid-November.

Instead, the Mavs are stacking wins, Flagg looks like an MVP candidate in year two, and Irving looks like his old self before the ACL injury happened. Most importantly, the way the Mavs are winning these games feels sustainable. Here are some of the biggest storylines from Monday night’s thriller.

Flagg Climbs Even Higher in the Teenage Record Books

Flagg was good in the first half, but he was on an entirely different level in the second.

The 19-year-old star scored 30 of his season-high 43 points after halftime, including 14 on 6-of-6 shooting in the third quarter and 16 more in the fourth. He finished 16-of-25 from the field, 3-of-6 from 3-point range and a perfect 8-of-8 at the free-throw line, adding 10 rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block for his fourth straight double-double.

Flagg became just the second teenager in NBA history to post at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a game, joining Kevin Durant, who put up 42 points, 13 rebounds and six assists in the final game of his rookie season with Seattle in 2008. Per StatMuse, add the three steals, and Flagg is the first teenager ever with a 40-10-5-3 line.

It was also his fifth career 40-point game, as many as the next two teenagers on that list combined (LeBron James with three and Anthony Edwards with two). His 14th career 30-point game moved him into second place for the most by a player under 20, behind only James, and his seventh 35-point game tied James for the most by a teenager. And keep in mind, Flagg doesn’t turn 20 until Dec. 21.

Mavericks head coach Dusty May pointed to how complete Flagg’s scoring package has become.

“He gets to the rim,” May said in his postgame media availability. “I think him almost being a left-handed player in the paint certainly helps. He’s a great left-footed jumper, left-handed finisher. Then he’s able to square in the air from 15, 17 feet. … The last couple of games, he’s made some threes and he’s making all of his free throws. That’s how you put up the 43 points, where you do a little bit of everything.”

It’s almost unreal just how good Flagg already is, and May is just happy he’s on his roster and not having to gameplan against him.

“He affects the game in so many ways and he makes the right plays as far as passing,” May said. “Thank goodness he’s on our team. It’s unbelievable that he’s a 19-year-old doing this.”

Flagg’s deadly midrange shot, which he worked on all offseason, is paying off in a big way, especially in clutch situations, where he leads the league in clutch points.

“I think just being able to get to my spots at a higher level and being more comfortable with that has allowed me to take a little bit of load off my body,” Flagg said. “Just kind of stopping short, raising up over people. It’s taxing going downhill all the way to the rim and trying to finish over seven-footers all night, every night. … Just trusting the work, trusting the spot work that I put in all summer long.”

Through 11 games, the reigning Rookie of the Year is averaging 25.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Again, given everything Mavs fans have been through over the last 21 months, this sort of euphoric rise back to genuine happiness watching these games is hard to believe.

Irving looks sharp on night 2 of a back-to-back

Flagg was the closer on Monday night, but Irving was arguably the reason Dallas was still in the game in those closing moments.

Playing the second night of a back-to-back for the first time this season, a day after logging 28 minutes in a 130-93 win over Brooklyn, Irving poured in 35 points in a season-high 38 minutes. He knocked down a season-high seven 3-pointers on 10 attempts, went 3-of-3 at the line and finished a game-best plus-29.

After missing 19 months with the torn ACL he suffered in March 2025, Irving said he told his teammates in the locker room after Sunday’s win that he planned to play.

“When you’re in a combative sport such as basketball, some days are going to feel good, some days aren’t, especially coming off an injury or a long period of time,” Irving said. “So I just had to get my body back used to being in the flow of the game. … I was just feeling great, and just coming in to today.”

May, who said plus-minus is often overblown in a one-game sample, made an exception for Irving in this one.

“His plus-29 tonight was very indicative of how important he is,” May said. “When we were struggling to make shots in the first half, we thought we were generating really good looks. We just looked a little bit flat. I thought Kyrie’s shot-making just kind of righted the ship for us.”

It’s still early, but seeing Irving look this healthy and proving to be a seamless fit next to Flagg bodes well for what this team can accomplish this year. Perhaps the last two years of the basketball injury gods punishing the Mavs will result in some good injury luck the rest of this season.

A star pairing without the ego

The most encouraging part of all of this is just how naturally Flagg and Irving shared the scoring load against Indiana. The two combined for 26 fourth-quarter points, including Dallas’ first 13 of the period, and May said neither player blinks when the play call goes to the other.

“We’re coming out of a timeout, we may draw up a play for one of them just because the other one might have an All-League defender on him, or whatever the case, and they never roll their eyes,” May said. “They know when we’re going to one of the two, the other one’s very, very supportive because they have that much respect for each other.”

Irving, an established champion who has shared the floor with more than a few superstars over his 15-year career, is grateful that he’s able to be Flagg’s teammate, despite the two players being on different ends of their careers.

“We keep calling him a teenager, but he plays way beyond his years. We’ve got to give him his flowers,” Irving said. “Most young guys will probably move away from that contact, but it seems like this newer generation that’s coming into our league, they fear nothing. And I think he falls right in line with that. So grateful to have him on the wing with me.”

Those feelings are mutual for Flagg: “Just having [Kyrie] out there, his gravity opening the floor for everybody else, it makes my life so much easier.”

Surviving a chaotic finish

It wasn’t pretty at the end, but it didn’t have to be for the Mavs to come up with another win. That’s one thing that’s been so encouraging about this fast start to the season. Dallas is finding different ways to win, whether it’s pretty or not.

Indiana’s Pascal Siakam torched Dallas for 26 first-half points on 8-of-9 shooting, but the Mavs adjusted their help defense after the break and held him to just three points on 1-of-7 shooting the rest of the way. The Pacers took a 66-56 lead into halftime and a 93-90 lead into the fourth before Flagg buried a 26-foot pull-up 3 to tie it. Irving’s 23-footer with 9:36 left put Dallas in front for good.

Leading 125-122 with a chance to put the game on ice, PJ Washington missed a pair of free throws with four seconds left, and Caleb Martin bailed everyone out by stealing Andrew Nembhard’s inbounds pass to Siakam with 0.9 seconds remaining. Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle was adamant that Martin fouled Siakam on that final play, but judging from the replays, it looked like Martin got all ball before ever making any contact with Siakam.

It obviously would’ve been nice for Washington to sink at least one of those free throws to avoid that last-second drama, but again, the Mavs keep finding different ways to win. How many times over the past two years have we seen a game like that end in a loss for Dallas?

Permission to dream a little?

As good (and fun) as the Mavs have been early on, Irving knows his team still has a long way to go to get to the level they want to be at.

“We haven’t earned anything in this league yet,” Irving said. “We consistently do it every night, and that’s how you build your identity in this league and you earn your respect. We try not to put the cart before the horse.”

With that being said, though, Mavs fans have earned the right to enjoy this start and, dare I say, dream big again. After two years of nothing but gut punches, a 7-4 start built on a generational teenager, a healthy veteran star and a team that genuinely seems to like playing together is a foundation Mavs fans have been waiting on.

Irving acknowledged the preseason doubt, saying the team heard “a lot of the noise” and chose not to let outside voices into the locker room. If he keeps playing like prime Kyrie, though, and if Flagg keeps rewriting the record books at this current pace, those voices of doubt are going to continue to get a whole lot quieter.

The Mavericks will now hit the road for a big three-game trip that will show just how real this start is, beginning Thursday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center at 7 p.m. CT. Dallas then visits the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 14 and the Boston Celtics on Nov. 15.

Lost in the background of the highly anticipated first matchup between Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum is a return to Philadelphia for Paul George, who spent his past two seasons as a Sixer. 

Both Brown and Tatum have downplayed the narrative, as hard as it is to ignore. George, who played 89 games in a Sixers uniform, is following suit. 

“It’s a regular game — that’s how I’m treating it,” he said during Boston’s morning shootaround. 

George said he was unsure of the reception he’d receive in his first game back to Xfinity Mobile Arena, a place where in his last appearance, he scored a series-best 23 points on 47% efficiency to go with vintage defense, forcing four Celtics turnovers and holding shooters matched up with him to 33% (5/15 FG). It played a part in Philly completing the 14th 3-1 series comeback in NBA history.

And yet, George’s brief stint in Philadelphia was defined by a core group that struggled to stay on the floor at the same time, and ran into the same second round demons they’ve yet to exorcise since the beginning of The Process. 

“Had I been here 8, 9, 10 years it’d be a different story. I was there 2 years,” he said. 

It’s an easy narrative to shrug off for George because, over his 17 seasons, he’s gone through this same thing before. 

“He said he’s returned to four different teams before. There’s nothing new to him,” Payton Pritchard said. 

George had his own contentious reunion when he played against the Indiana Pacers for the first time, followed by games against the Thunder and Clippers.

George isn’t the only Celtic currently on the roster to have experienced an anticipated reunion between a foundational player and the team that drafted him. 

Mike Conley, a 12-year Grizzlies mainstay before the organization ended the Grit and Grind with a full scale rebuild, was showered with appreciation and given a hero’s welcome from the Memphis fanbase in his first game against them in 2019. 

Their experiences couldn’t have been farther apart. 

In the case of George, whose seven years in Indiana ended in a trade request, he first played the Pacers in Oklahoma City, struggling with foul trouble and playing just 19 minutes in an 18-point win. When he played in Indiana for the first time later that season, he was showered with boos from the moment his name was announced, and he shot just 3-of-14 for 12 points, though a late steal and two clutch free throws contributed to a 100-95 win. 

“I’m happy this circus is over with. Everybody can move on,” George said after his return to Indiana. 

The response was different in George’s next stop; he was given a tribute video and crowd ovation playing against the Thunder for the first time. Against the Clippers, a video tribute was also presented, but there was a mix of cheers and boos, a reaction he described as “stupid,” though he cited no ill will towards the franchise or his time spent in Los Angeles. 

“The boos, I didn’t get it,” he said after his first game against the Clippers. “I still don’t get it when I go [back] to Indy, but it is what it is. It’s sports. I look forward to next year being back here and more boos.”

It’s hard to say the exact response when George’s name is called in the lineup introductions tonight. As the Celtics got rolling on their shootaround inside Xfinity Mobile Arena, the song “Why Can’t We Be Friends” by War blared from the speakers, a tongue and cheek choice to kick off what will be one of the most watched and debated rivalry games of the season. 

Perhaps it’s a sign that tempers will be calm on Tuesday night. The game will be played, hands will be shaken, and hugs will be dispersed from competitor to competitor after an early November test between two Eastern Conference contenders.

Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

On Sunday afternoon, the Sacramento Kings agreed to deal second-year wing Nique Clifford to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for two second-round picks. Clifford held a fairly sizable role during his rookie season, when he averaged 8.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 0.9 steals in 25.1 minutes per game.

But he’d fallen out of Sacramento’s rotation to begin 2026-27 and played just 50 minutes in eight games prior to the trade. With the Thunder ravaged by early season injuries, they opted to tap into their surplus of picks and add a reinforcement to their wing room with the hopes he might break out in a more stable organization.

Oklahoma City, however, was not the lone playoff hopeful eyeing Clifford. Marc Stein and Jake Fischer reported that a trio of other suitors, including the Los Angeles Lakers, gauged the market for him. Ultimately, though, the Thunder emerged victorious in the Nique Clifford Sweepstakes.

“The Pacers, Nuggets and Lakers, sources say, were among the teams that registered trade interest in the 24-year-old,“ according to The Stein Line Substack, “but Oklahoma City had multiple advantages when it came to getting a deal done.”

Among the “multiple advantages” referenced there is presumably Oklahoma City’s wealth of picks. Between 2027 and 2033, it owns 15 second-round picks, one of which is Los Angeles’ 2032 second-rounder. For comparison, the Lakers own just three over that same span.

Plus, the Lakers are also already fairly well-stocked with youthful wings worth taking a swing on this season. Adou Thiero (22 years old), Cameron Carr (22) and Ziaire Williams (25) are all 25 or younger and have garnered varying levels of rotation minutes to open the year. Given the Lakers’ depleted well of draft capital, it probably didn’t make much sense to fork over two of their remaining three second-round picks through 2033 for a dude who *might* crack the rotation on certain nights.

If they’re going to move some of those picks, it should be for someone they know can be a difference-maker and mainstay in the rotation. Clifford, while still pretty young and far from a finished product in the league, certainly does not fit that billing.

You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.

The Golden State Warriors have won eight straight games and look like one of the Western Conference’s best teams.

But it was not all smiles for Golden State after Monday’s 138-87 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, given the injury that backup point guard Brandon Williams suffered.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr spoke about how much of a blow Williams’ injury is when speaking to the media postgame.

“Yeah, it’s a big concern. He’s a huge part of our team, and he’s given us such a lift. And it’s a hamstring. He’s going to get an MRI, so we’ll see how bad it is,” Kerr said on Williams’ injury.

Williams has been one of the Warriors’ best surprises this season. He is averaging 10.4 points in 16.1 minutes per game for Golden State after signing a one-year, $2.6 million for them this past offseason.

It’s still too early to tell how long Williams might be sidelined for.

But hamstring injuries are notoriously difficult to recover from and have a high risk of re-injury, so Golden State might prefer to be as cautious as possible when easing him back to the court.

Injuries might be the only thing that can slow Golden State down right now. Unfortunately, these injuries are appearing at an alarming rate.

DETROIT — Tre Johnson is an elite shooter. It’s why the Washington Wizards selected him No. 6 in the 2025 draft. But his jump shot hasn’t clicked at the start of the 2026-27 season.

Johnson scored two points on 1-for-8 shooting in Monday’s 122-111 loss to the Detroit Pistons just two days after shooting 2-for-15 in a 114-75 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Johnson missed all 13 of his 3-point attempts in those contests.

He is shooting 35.1% from the field through 11 games. His 24.5% 3-point percentage is the second-worst in the NBA among players with at least 50 3-point attempts this season, trailing only Ace Bailey’s 22.6%.

In Monday’s loss, Johnson missed two wide-open triples — one in the far corner and another on the wing — in the first half. In the second half, he missed three more open looks to finish 0-for-6 from long range. His lone make was a 3-foot push shot that rimmed in.

Johnson is getting open looks. He’s just missing them.

“[Johnson] had a great game in Atlanta the other night. This is what this guy does. I got great faith in him,” Brian Keefe said. “He got some good looks tonight. He’s gonna knock those down. We saw what he did last year with the percentage he shot. That’ll turn. He puts in all the work, and I got great faith in him.”

Johnson’s struggles are concerning. But he’s far from the only Wizards with an inefficient 3-ball. The Wizards made just nine of their 36 3-point attempts in Monday’s loss. They’re shooting 29% from three, which ranks 29th in the league.

Trae Young made just three of his 10 3-point attempts in Monday’s loss. He’s shooting 28.8% from three. Alex Sarr missed both of his outside jumpers to fall to 19.4% from three this season. Kyshawn George shot just 2-for-6 from long range.

Washington has a shooting problem. Keefe believes this slump will pass. But 11 games in, the Wizards’ spacing concerns have been realized.

“We’ve got guys who can make them. I’ve got faith in our shooters. We’re in a tough stretch shooting-wise, but these things will average out,” Keefe said. “ We’re going to continue to do the right things, put ourselves in the position to make those shots, and I got faith in our guys.”

AJ Dybantsa, who scored 21 points against Detroit but made just one of his four 3-point attempts, reiterated that sentiment. The rookie remained confident in the Wizards’ ability to make open shots, especially from three. 

“Keep shooting. We’re NBA players. We’re gonna knock shots down,” Dybantsa said. “We might be in a shooting slump right now, but [we] have to keep shooting.”

The Celtics will face an old friend when they take on the 76ers on Tuesday night: Jaylen Brown, who spent a decade in Boston before being traded to Philadelphia on Tuesday.

And Payton Pritchard, one of Brown’s longest-tenured teammates, looks forward to the match-up.

“I definitely had a lot of good memories with JB,” he said in front of an unusually large media corp at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. “Obviously, he was there from the moment I got drafted, and we had a good competitive battle. He pushed me to get better, so I’m definitely appreciative of that. And then, as far as tonight, two really great teams going at it, and there’s nothing better than that.”

Still, although there’s heightened public interest in this match-up, the added emotions are nothing that he and the Celtics aren’t used to.

“I’ve played a lot of playoff games, so I don’t think it’ll be that much different,” Pritchard said. Three of those games came at the very arena where the Celtics held shootaround on Tuesday morning, just a few months ago, in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs

Much of the discourse heading into Tuesday night will center on the dynamic between Brown and Jayson Tatum, whose relationship has been heavily scrutinized for years, especially in the last few weeks.

Paul George said he expects another big night from Tatum amid all the chaos.

“JT is locked in,” George said. “He’s as professional as they come at preparing for a game. He’s been playing at an MVP level, and I think he’s looking at it as another game on the schedule. Obviously, there’s a lot of noise surrounding it that hopefully he’s not lost in. But it’s our job to support him, to help him do it, and make sure his focus is where it needs to be for us to come out here and have a chance to play against a really good team and continue to add to his MVP-performance resume this season.”

Pritchard was asked at shootaround what people don’t understand about NBA locker rooms, and how they differ from the locker rooms the general public is more familiar with, such as high school locker rooms.

“There’s a lot of egos in it, and people need an ego to get to the NBA. And so it’s definitely a balancing act,” Pritchard said. “And in high school, like you said, it’s all your buddies. Not to say that we’re not all buddies, but everybody’s got families. They’re trying to make it. They got things to prove, so it’s different. But in the day, I don’t think there was ever beef or anything. I think it’s working relationships. Some people are closer than others, but you find a way to win and keep going.”

Paul George will make his return to Philadelphia

One storyline heading into Tuesday night is that Paul George will return to face the 76ers team he played for for two seasons. But there’s not too much pressure on that return game for the 9-time All-Star.

“He said he’s returned to four different teams before, so he’s used to this,” he said. “So it’s nothing new to him.”

George is averaging 20.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 2.3 steals, while shooting 42.5% from three on the season.

“He’s been unbelievable,” Pritchard said. “He’s played great to start the year and shooting the ball unbelievable. His defense is impeccable, so it’s been huge for us.”

George said at the Celtics shootaround that he’s thoroughly enjoyed his tenure.

“I’ve been kind of blown away,” he said. “I think it exceeded my expectations since being in Boston. You never know how much culture is involved and how much culture changes your outlook on things, and the effect it has mentally and physically. Just being in an environment like the culture, or like Boston presents, and so I’ve been thrilled. I’ve been playing some of my best basketball late. Just been enjoying finding out with these guys here. It’s a fun style of play. And again, I can’t talk about just the thrill and the happiness and excitement and joy that it has brought to the end of it.”

You could feel it last night during the loss to the San Antonio Spurs, couldn’t you? When Suns’ rookie wing Koa Peat entered the game, you could feel that “disease of what if” beginning to creep in. Perhaps I felt it more than most because I’d spent my morning browsing eBay, looking through the newly released 2026-27 Topps basketball cards and hunting for Peat rookie cards. Side note: I love that they’re doing the 45th anniversary of the 1981-82 Topps cards. Classically beautiful.

So when he entered the game with 5:56 left and the Suns trailing by 30 points in the fourth quarter, I suddenly had a reason to remain engaged for the rest of the evening. And he didn’t disappoint. The first time Peat touched the ball, he attacked the cylinder, drove left, spun right, and banked a beautiful 6-foot shot off the glass for two points. On the very next possession, he found himself in transition and tossed an alley-oop to Michael Jordan reincarnated in Jamaree Bouyea for another two points.

I felt it deep within my soul. We need to get this guy minutes!

Then reality quickly set in. There aren’t necessarily minutes available for him right now, and one of the primary reasons those two possessions looked so beautiful was sitting comfortably on the San Antonio bench. Victor Wembanyama, the very villain responsible for putting Phoenix in a 30-point hole, wasn’t on the floor to swat either opportunity into the fifth row.

When you’re watching a team that desperately lacks size and rebounding, any opportunity to see a player who possesses those attributes immediately feels like you’ve stumbled upon the solution. You begin convincing yourself that the coaching staff doesn’t know what it’s doing, that players like Peat should be receiving consistent opportunities because they offer something the current rotation is sorely missing.

On paper, that sounds wonderful. In reality, it’s not nearly that simple, and there are legitimate reasons why it shouldn’t happen right now.

For starters, where are those minutes supposed to come from? Ryan Dunn has been playing out of his mind to begin the season. Are we supposed to take some of his limited 16.7 minutes away? Do we cut his playing time in half so Peat can get on the floor long enough to work up a sweat without ever establishing enough rhythm to make those minutes meaningful?

Granted, if we could carve out some minutes from Jalen Green, I’d certainly entertain that conversation. Perhaps that’s where an opportunity exists. But the reality is that developing chemistry and cohesion requires consistency within your rotations. You can’t expect players to become comfortable with one another if you’re constantly reshuffling responsibilities and playing time every time a rookie enters a game and strings together two positive possessions.

Quite honestly, if Peat is receiving significant minutes right now, it probably means the Suns have shifted their priorities away from winning in the present and toward developing for the future. As I’ve stated before, losing doesn’t benefit this franchise. Phoenix doesn’t control its own draft destiny, so intentionally prioritizing development at the expense of winning creates a situation where you’re accumulating losses without receiving the traditional reward that comes with them. You might as well go out there and try to win basketball games.

There will eventually come a time when development becomes a greater priority. If the Suns remain 12th in the Western Conference standings as the season progresses, the organization may need to reevaluate its approach and provide more meaningful opportunities to its younger players. At that point, giving Peat, Fleming, and others additional minutes could become an important part of determining what the future looks like.

But we’re nine games into the season. Nine. And while I recognize there are people already pounding their fists on the table demanding more playing time for Peat, I’m here to tell you that now is neither the time nor the place.

That’s the challenge of the disease of what if. It sends your mind wandering toward hypothetical solutions that seem perfectly logical when you’re watching your team get dismantled. You see a young player make a couple of exciting plays, recognize that he possesses attributes your team desperately needs, and begin imagining how differently things might have unfolded had he been given an opportunity earlier.

But countless variables contribute to those moments. The opponent’s personnel, the score, the defensive intensity, the matchups, and the circumstances surrounding those opportunities all matter. And because you’ll never receive a definitive answer to what would have happened had that player entered the game earlier, the hypothetical begins to feel like a solution.

Adding some fuel to the debate is that Suns’ head coach Jordan Ott stated just a few days ago that Peat is “right on the cusp.”

“Koa is next and Koa’s right there on the tip,” Ott stated. “We understand that he’s young and he’s hasn’t done doesn’t have a ton of NBA game experience, but again, the way the game is moving, the ability to drive, process, and defend the drive, he appears to have it, and he’s right there. He’ll get his opportunity, and we have full faith that that’s what’s coming.”

The Suns could certainly use some help on the glass, as last night’s loss served as another painful reminder of how difficult it has been for this team to secure rebounds. Phoenix was outrebounded by 20 against San Antonio and currently ranks dead last in the NBA with a 44.6% overall rebounding percentage. Perhaps even more concerning is its defensive rebounding percentage, which sits at a league-worst 60.1%. That means opposing teams have an alarmingly high likelihood of extending possessions by grabbing offensive rebounds, a recurring nightmare for Phoenix.

The consequences are showing up on the scoreboard. The Suns allow a league-high 19.0 second-chance points per game, essentially handing opponents additional scoring opportunities because they cannot consistently finish defensive possessions with a rebound. It’s difficult enough to stop NBA offenses the first time around. When you’re giving them multiple opportunities to score on the same possession, you’re making an already challenging task nearly impossible.

Where do I land on Koa Peat? I want to see him play. I want to see what he can become, and I certainly want the Suns to develop the talent they’ve invested in. But wanting to see more of a player and believing he deserves more minutes right now are two different things.

The Suns have to balance the future with the present, and nine games into the season, they still have a responsibility to compete. Maybe Peat eventually earns a larger role. Maybe the circumstances change and create that opportunity. Until then, we have to resist the temptation to turn two exciting possessions into an answer to problems that are considerably more complicated. The disease of what if is powerful, but it doesn’t necessarily make the prescription any better.

Me? I’ll just head back over to eBay and hunt more rookie autos.

ORIGINAL PHOENIX SUNS ARTWORK

Face of the Franchise

by John Voita, III

A one-of-a-kind, hand-painted tribute to the two-time MVP and Phoenix Suns legend. Created on a 16 × 20 inch canvas board.

AVAILABLE ON EBAY

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