Category: Sports News

As we find ourselves buried in the unrelenting sands of the desert known as the NBA offseason, we can’t help ourselves. We begin projecting forward, wondering what could happen with the Phoenix Suns during the 2026–27 season. It’s only natural to dive into the statistics we already have and attempt to project what they might mean moving forward. Such is the cycle of sports.

We’ve already looked at five reasons why the Suns could fall short next season, so now it’s time to explore the other side of the equation. Why might they exceed expectations?

And what exactly are those expectations? We can all set our own. Maybe it’s securing a playoff spot and a top-six seed. Maybe it’s making a run to the Western Conference Finals. Maybe it’s winning a championship. All are viable expectations depending on how optimistic you want to be. For this exercise, though, I’m going to use the baseline provided by the oddsmakers in Las Vegas, where the Suns’ win total sits around 38.5.

So let’s talk about the five biggest reasons why Phoenix could exceed that number.

The Suns don’t need traditional positions 

Yes, I understand the argument that the Suns don’t have a true point guard or a true power forward if you’re looking at the traditional expectations, archetypes, and historical significance of those positions. But this is where I remind everyone that simply because we don’t view this roster as having a traditional point guard or power forward doesn’t mean those roles don’t exist within the confines of the modern NBA.

Look at the two teams that played in the NBA Finals last season. Would you define Jalen Brunson as a traditional point guard? Maybe in terms of size, sure, but that’s about it. He ranked 16th in the NBA in assists last season at 6.8 per game. Since becoming a primary starter in 2021, his final season in Dallas, he has averaged 6.3 assists per game, which ranks 21st over that span.

He was also 14th in the NBA in scoring last season at 26.0 points per game. Brunson is a score-first point guard who possesses the ability to create for others, but distribution isn’t his primary role. That sounds very similar to what Devin Booker has been asked to do in the past, what he’ll be asked to do again this season, and something he has done successfully. Booker averaged 26.1 points last season, which ranked 13th, along with 6.0 assists, which ranked 29th. What separates Brunson from Booker is his ability to operate effectively in the clutch, but from an overall archetype standpoint, they aren’t all that different.

Then look at the power forwards who started in the NBA Finals last season. Were they big, bruising, 6’10” traditional power forwards? No. They were 6’7” OG Anunoby and 6’7” Julian Champagnie. So the idea that the power forward position has to be filled by some massive bruiser is rooted more in how we historically think about the position than how it functions in the modern NBA, where the ability to spread the floor is at a premium.

And yes, I understand that spreading the floor and consistently shooting the three point ball at a high percentage could be a weakness for this team. Of that there is no doubt. But that’s exactly why I think No. 2 on this list is so important.

The Suns’ depth gives them a margin for error 

The Phoenix Suns are deep. In my opinion, it’s unbelievably impressive how they’ve navigated the cap sheet while still maintaining that level of depth. I guess that’s what happens when Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are no longer on the roster. Sure, you’re still paying Bradley Beal $19.4 million not to play for the team, but you’re no longer paying him roughly $30 million more than that. That creates a significant amount of money to work with, and over the past two seasons, the Suns have done a stellar job of filling out the roster with both veterans and young prospects.

That depth is going to matter. From a three-point shooting perspective, Phoenix has options. Luke Kennard, Collin Gillespie, Jordan Goodwin, and the potential of what Rasheer Fleming can become all give the Suns shooting that can come off the bench and contribute.

They’re deep at the five. They have multiple wings that can come in and confidently contribute. The guard room has options as well, and all of that exists while the team also has two-way players capable of filling similar roles.

That depth also matters because every team eventually faces adversity. We can sit here all summer and project what this team is going to be, but you never truly know until you get punched in the mouth. You have to adjust to what the season gives you, and one thing the season will undoubtedly provide is injuries. That’s unavoidable. The fact that Phoenix has depth across multiple positions is something to appreciate because it gives them the ability to absorb injuries, provide rest when needed, and still remain competitive on a nightly basis.

And that’s especially important because of the new anti-tank rules. Which brings me to point No. 3.

The Western Conference has opened the door for Phoenix 

You can already see it in the preseason projected over/unders across the league. The new anti-tanking rules, which will ultimately incentivize winning rather than losing, are going to have a profound effect on how teams operate. If you finish with one of the three worst records in the league, you no longer get more lottery balls. You get fewer.

What that means is a struggling team in March is no longer going to sit all of its starters in an effort to improve its lottery odds. Those teams are going to compete because they’ll want to avoid falling into that relegation zone. Which means there are no nights off.

For a team like the Suns, which did a good job beating up on bad teams last season, that creates some concern. But when you look at the entire landscape of the Western Conference, not only the teams projected to live near the bottom, I think the conference is weaker than it was a season ago.

Oklahoma City is now flirting with the second apron and has to move off key pieces in an effort to become more fiscally responsible. Lu Dort is now with Atlanta, as is Aaron Wiggins. Isaiah Joe was sent to Detroit. Yes, Oklahoma City has players waiting in the wings to replace them, but I don’t think this is the same plug-and-play Thunder team we saw a season ago.

The Denver Nuggets also appear to have taken a step backward. They traded Peyton Watson because they couldn’t afford to keep him after making a poor financial decision to re-sign Christian Braun. Minnesota completely pivoted as well. LaMelo Ball, who has never won a playoff game, is now running point for a team that once possessed tremendous size and depth but no longer has Julius Randle or Naz Reid.

Who knows what the Lakers are going to be? Having Luka Doncic on your team feels like it guarantees you 50 wins, but Luka and Austin Reaves as a defensive backcourt isn’t something I’m particularly afraid of. Houston is relying on a healthy Fred VanVleet to improve its chances next season, and there’s something about having Kevin Durant on your team that reminds us success is never guaranteed.

The Western Conference is weaker. Players like LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, several Thunder players, and Julius Randle have gone East. That creates an opportunity for Phoenix. And part of that opportunity leads me to reason No. 4.

Continuity could be the Suns’ biggest advantage 

This is one of the biggest reasons I believe the Phoenix Suns are going to be better than they were last season, and why I’m happily taking the over on 38.5 wins.

Yes, there were periods of instability last year, and much of that was driven by injuries. You can show me all of the statistics from the back end of the season and try to point the finger at Jalen Green as the primary reason things didn’t work. I don’t buy that.

Green played a grand total of 32 games, but only 27 of them came with Devin Booker, 12 with Dillon Brooks, and 16 with Mark Williams. You can look at last season and pull whatever conclusions you want from that sample size, but my response is that there simply wasn’t enough time to fully understand what this team was or allow them to showcase what they could become while learning from the mistakes they made along the way.

Now you’re bringing back four of the five starters from last season, and that matters. There is familiarity. There is an understanding of spacing. There is camaraderie that you can’t quantify on any website. Basketball Reference isn’t going to show you a chemistry metric, and that is where opportunity exists for Phoenix. So many teams across the NBA will spend the first couple of months figuring out the basics of chemistry. The Suns already possess a good portion of that, and I think that advantage will manifest itself throughout the season.

The other side of the conversation is that Phoenix is still relying on progress to improve. Several players had career years, and now you’re asking them to improve again. You’re asking the youth to showcase development and continue fanning the flames of one of the pillars this organization is trying to build around.

Easier said than done? Absolutely. But continuity makes that progression easier to obtain. Roles are more established. Expectations are clearer. There is less instability. And for the first time since Monty Williams, the Suns are bringing back the same head coach for a second season. That matters too.

Although there is one guy who wasn’t on the team last season…

Miles Bridges changes what the Suns can do 

I honestly believe this one. I understand who and what Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen were, but in my opinion, Royce O’Neale plus Grayson Allen does not equal Miles Bridges plus Luke Kennard. That is an upgrade for this team. You now have more offensive options, players who can do more than stand in the corner and wait for a three. 

Miles Bridges possesses a gravity that is going to affect everyone around him, and players like Devin Booker and Jalen Green should benefit from it. If Bridges has the ball, whoever is defending Booker has to be cognizant of what is happening. Miles isn’t going to stand behind the arc like Royce O’Neale and wait to fire away. He can put pressure on the rim, and when he does, defenses will naturally collapse. When defenses collapse, they’re doing it off of other players on the floor. Booker, Green, Brooks, and Williams can all benefit from that. Bridges can be a willing passer, and I expect him to be one within this offense.

Bridges is also a reclamation project, someone looking to resurrect his career, and I believe Phoenix is the right place for him. This is an organization that will do everything it can to put him in a position to succeed. Ultimately, it comes down to him executing both on and off the court, and that could be a defining factor for the Suns as a whole next season. Bridges has shown throughout his career in Charlotte that he can play in a multitude of different ways. That Swiss Army knife ability may need to shift from night to night depending on the opponent, and, given his experience, I believe he can adapt.

I’m looking forward to seeing what he looks like within the confines of this offense, these schemes, and this roster.

Yes, it’s all speculation at this point. We won’t truly know what this team is until they tip off on October 21 in Portland. But I do believe there is reason for optimism.

I can also recognize the arguments for why this team could falter. My challenge with many of those arguments comes from something I’ve learned over multiple years of doing this. We tend to look at previous statistical results and use them to project forward. And that makes sense. You identify trends and assume those trends will continue in the same direction. The problem is that I did the same thing last offseason, and I was wrong. I did it the two offseasons before that as well.

The lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t rely solely on previous statistical results to dictate what will happen next in the NBA. Continuity and chemistry don’t have clean metrics attached to them, yet both play vital roles in the success or failure of a team. Last year’s Suns had an abundance of chemistry. The team before that was almost completely devoid of it.

So while statistics should always be part of the conversation when trying to understand what a player or team could become, they can’t be the end-all, be-all of the argument. These points of view are much more nuanced than that. They depend heavily on the ecosystem a player is operating within, not simply what he did last season in Charlotte.

And that’s ultimately why I’m willing to take the over on 38.5 and believe they will be better than last season’s 45-37 record. It isn’t because the Suns suddenly solved every problem, or because the numbers guarantee some dramatic turnaround. It’s because the context around those numbers has changed. Phoenix has more depth, more continuity, more versatility and, in Miles Bridges, another player capable of changing how defenses have to operate. Sometimes the best projection isn’t based on what happened last season, but on what has changed since. 

This week, our attention turned to the quartet of players—Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakučionis—the Bucks acquired as part of the trade that sent Giannis and Bobby Portis to the Miami Heat. More specifically, we asked you how many of them you think Taylor Jenkins should start.

Turns out the magic number is two.

Arguably more important than the numbers, however, is the combination of starters. One prevailing line of thinking suggested that combination should be the backcourt/frontcourt tandem of Herro and Ware:

R984: …I selected 2. Herro just bc he’s probably our best offensive player (unless Rollins surpasses him, in which case move Herro to the bench imo), and I would like to see us start Ware, whether that is at the 4 or 5. I care much more about Ware being in the position to develop to his maximum potential than I do about Turner.

retired janitor: Two, Herro and Ware.

Thirty Point Buck: Hopefully there’s a trade before the season so they only have to showcase several for the deadline. Herro will start until traded . Ware will start but depending on matchups will come off the bench.

GBFanBoy: Herro and Ware all day. Keep Jaquez thriving off the bench. Let Turner have his way at the 4. Heck, he’s a better shooter than his sample size for sure. Ware as well in that regard, it’s got Cosby sauce all over it. Rollins and KPJ should get dynamic duo, Herro, Turner, Ware

Two wasn’t the only desirable total, with a fitting third of voters wanting to see three of the quartet start. But it wasn’t always for the same reason:

Knuckles: I went with 3: I still am a firm believer that Jaquez Jr. should start. High IQ, excellent secondary playmaker, and coming off a 6MOY campaign in a contract year. I think there is a very good chance he has a breakout season, and I want to see us either make him a part of the new future core (still 25 and this will be his fourth season) or make him available at the deadline. Same thinking with Herro… Ware is definitely a swingman in the front court, so I not only think he needs to start next to Turner but we want to figure out where his best fit is after we deal Turner.

naveed2000s: Three, only because currently JJJ is our best option at starting SF.

Of course, as R984 noted, some Bucks fans might think none of them should start—in which case those future picks better be great, otherwise we might really need to reevaluate the trade.

In all, as far as the comments go, it seems Bucks fans are set on—or at least accepting of—Herro starting, while also being in on a double-big lineup featuring Ware and Myles Turner. Even more surprising, discussion about who should start for the Bucks at point guard pointed to fans wanting Kevin Porter Jr. as the main distributor. So, is Ryan Rollins shafted to the bench or do the Bucks run with a three-guard lineup?

With trade target Peyton Watson now a Cleveland Cavalier, Jaquez accustomed to a sixth-man role, and the Bucks still searching for answers in the forward slots, that very much remains in play.

That question—and the rest of the small forward puzzle—will be explored in the next instalment of our “Choose Your Own Adventure” starter series, coming Tuesday.

Check out FanDuel, the official sportsbook of SB Nation.

The Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers feel like mirror images of each other in opposite conferences entering the 2026-27 season. Both teams are really good, but feel a step below their biggest rivals. Both have huge payrolls built around max superstars without much flexibility to tinker with the roster formula. Both have had frustrating offseasons before they came together to swap Peyton Watson as part of a massive five-team trade this week.

The Cavs will hope Watson can be the fifth starter they’ve long been missing while adding wing defense, transition scoring, and spot-up shooting. The Nuggets feel like they’re taking a step back this season with the deal, but they’re adding a valuable long-term asset by landing Cleveland’s unprotected 2031 first-rounder. The Clippers got involved to add Max Strus, while the Hornets picked up Dennis Schroder as part of the deal.

This trade shakes up the rotation for contenders in both conferences, so I think it’s worth updating our league power rankings now that it’s complete. I dropped my original way-too-early power rankings for next season on July 10, then updated them after LeBron James signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. Here’s how I see the league hierarchy entering the season after the Watson deal, with more analysis after the table.

‘Who’s No. 4?’ remains the most interesting question in the NBA

Any dummy can see that the Thunder, Spurs, and Knicks are the best teams in the NBA in some order entering the season. Ask 10 people who should be No. 4 in the power rankings, and you might get seven different answers.

I’m favoring the Timberwolves here because of their playoff upside. I don’t expect them to be the NBA’s fourth-best regular season team this season, but I like their ability to advance in the postseason more than some of the other contenders for that spot. I’m always been a bit LaMelo Ball guy, and he’s quietly turned into a borderline top-20 player when he’s healthy. Obviously LaMelo’s health is a big if, but you can same thing for Aaron Gordon in Denver and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia. Ball is at least the youngest of that trio.

I’m intrigued by the Timberwolves apparent plan to try to beat the Spurs and/or Thunder with pull-up threes. Those are very tough shots to defend, and if they fall in a short series, it gives Minnesota some upset potential against the conference’s elite. I’m a bit worried about the Wolves’ depth, I don’t think the Ayo Dosunmu contract will age well, and there should be some concern about age-related decline from Rudy Gobert. The Wolves’ grip on the No. 4 spot is far from firm, but I still like their upside with Anthony Edwards and Ball leading the offense, and Gobert and Jaden McDaniels leading the defense. Let me know who you would have at No. 4 in the comments below.

I’m still not buying the Cavs even with Peyton Watson

I detailed my thoughts on the Watson deal for Cleveland in my trade grades, which is linked in the first paragraph of this story. In short, Watson feels like a better fit for the Cavs on paper than he will be in reality. I’m not convinced he’s a more impactful player than Max Strus, and I’m worried about Cleveland’s depth after giving up Strus and Dennis Schroder to land him.

The Cavs have been an Eastern Conference contender since trading for Donovan Mitchell. They should be trending up after a conference finals berth following two second-round exits, but to me it feels like other teams in the conference are passing them. James Harden — now inked to a new three-year, $97 million deal — should start to decline at age-37. I’ve long been a big Evan Mobley fan, but I’m a bit discouraged with his lack of offensive development the last two seasons. Watson could potentially be a really good fit for Cleveland, but they need him to buy into being an impactful defender and spot-up shooter when his defense has always been a little overrated, and he prefers to shoot from mid-range rather than maximizing corner three attempts (where he knocked down 52% last year).

I would take the Raptors with Kawhi over the Cavs, and I think I would take the Pistons over them too. Detroit addressed its lack of shooting over the offseason, and their core is still getting better while I’m not sure that’s the case for Cleveland. Ultimately, the Cavs move up one spot in my rankings from last time. I decided to flip flop on Toronto and Detroit because while I feel like the Pistons are a better regular season team, the Raptors have more playoff upside to me with Leonard in tow.

Obviously, I could be wrong about Cleveland. All these teams are pretty close. The Cavs are good every year, and in some sense I feel like that’s the best way to eventually breakthrough: just keep fielding competitive teams until you get the luck you need for things to break your way. For now, I like the Cavs more as a regular season team than a playoff team, and that’s why they can’t crack the top-10 of my power rankings.

Are the Nuggets done competing for championships around Nikola Jokic?

It feels that way right now. Denver was my championship pick at this time last year. They ended up getting eliminated in the first-round of the playoffs to their biggest rival of the Jokic era, the Timberwolves.

The Nuggets have done a lot wrong since winning the 2023 championship. Zeke Nnaji and Christian Braun are among the worst contracts in the league. Aaron Gordon is constantly hurt, and that might be Denver’s biggest issue. Jamal Murray is very good, but he feels a bit overpaid at $50 million this year, equating to the league’s 17th highest paid player. They traded an unprotected 2032 first-round and Michael Porter Jr. for Cameron Johnson only to watch Porter have a significantly better season in Brooklyn than Johnson had in Denver. They just lost Peyton Watson for nothing after originally giving up their 2027 first-round pick to get him. It’s been bleak.

I still think the Nuggets have a chance to build a contender around Jokic again even if this year could be another small step back. Of course, they have to extend Jokic for that to be possible, and right now he’s slated to be a free agent next summer despite continually saying he’ll spend his whole career in Denver. I’d rather have the Cavs’ unprotected 2031 pick than Watson in a vacuum. That can be a valuable trade chip in the future. I’m imagining a world where Braun bounces back this season, and Denver trades him plus the pick for a real contributor moving forward. I also wouldn’t be shocked if Denver eventually does its version of the Jaylen Brown trade with Murray.

Teams aren’t meant to stay together forever under this CBA. Front offices almost have to pitch a perfect game to keep the championship window extended, and Denver didn’t even come close to that. Still, all things are possible through Jokic, and now they have an actually valuable trade chip with the Cavs pick to flip for someone better than Watson. I don’t love where Denver is at this year, especially if Gordon’s body keeps breaking down. I’m just not ready to write their obituary for the Jokic era just yet.