How do you define an X-factor? When you look up and down a roster, what skills or characteristics are you searching for in a player before giving them that designation? As we prepare for the 2026–27 Phoenix Suns season, our writing staff decided to take on that question. What makes someone an X-factor? And who will fill that role for the Suns this season?
I’ll start with my own definition. Pulling out my personal basketball dictionary, an X-factor isn’t one of your primary stars. Yes, your season may ultimately sink or swim based on how those players perform, but that doesn’t make them X-factors. That makes them primary factors. An X-factor, at least in my mind, is a role player who has the ability to significantly alter the outcome of a game or even the direction of a season. They are the needle movers; those opposing teams don’t gameplan against but wish they did. And when you look at this Suns roster, there are plenty of candidates.
Last year, in my opinion, it was Collin Gillespie. He took a real step forward as a player, and while he faded down the stretch, what he gave Phoenix through the first two-thirds of the season changed the energy, effort, and outcomes of games on a consistent basis. He was given the opportunity to become an X-factor, and for most of the season, he ran with it. When opposing fanbases are asking who you are, you did the right thing.
So when I look up and down this roster and ask who can be this year’s X-factor, and certainly no opposing fan doesn’t know who he is (for unfortunate reasons), I keep coming back to Miles Bridges. I think what he brings has the potential to change the Suns’ entire offensive ecosystem. You can also make the argument that he sits just outside the primary core, with Devin Booker, Jalen Green, and Dillon Brooks representing the main trio. Our recent SunsRank rankings reflected that as well, with Bridges landing outside that group. So, yes, Miles Bridges absolutely qualifies as an X-factor.
Bridges adds another layer of complexity, gravity, and pressure to the offense. He can attack downhill, create advantages, and force defenses to account for him in ways that should open the floor for everyone else. And if he can turn that into 18 or more points per game while remaining an efficient threat, it raises the ceiling of what this offense can become. Because if Bridges plays well enough that defenses have to treat him like a legitimate scoring threat, it creates more room for your primary factors. That means better opportunities for Devin Booker. Better opportunities for Jalen Green. And potentially a much more dynamic Suns offense.
Phoenix doesn’t need him to be its best player. It needs him to make life easier for the players who are. If his downhill pressure, physicality, and scoring force defenses to give him additional attention, the ripple effect could touch everything around him. Booker and Green get cleaner opportunities. The offense gains another dimension. And Miles Bridges becomes exactly what an X-factor should be, the variable that changes the equation.
Now, onto the rest of our Bright Side writing team. Let’s see how they define the term and who they’ve identified as their X-factors for the season.
Holden Sherman: An X-factor is the player who has the largest impact on driving your team’s wins and losses. Typically, that is your squad’s best player, but not always. Take the KD Warriors as an example. Steph Curry was the player who drove the most winning but Durant was the best.
For the Phoenix Suns, however, the team’s X-factor also happens to be their best player, which is Devin Booker. Turning 30 at the start of the season, he’s in the middle of his prime, and if he plays closer to the player we saw in 2023 than the one we’ve seen the past few seasons, the Suns could potentially be a top-six seed in an uncertain Western Conference. Along with staying healthy after not qualifying for All-NBA awards this past season, he needs to be an offensive engine not just for himself but for the team. While the roster has a good amount of continuity from a season ago, there will at minimum be two new starters from a season ago to begin the year, with Miles Bridges at the four and whoever replaces Mark Williams while he deals with his shoulder injury.
Booker needs to be the team’s leader off the court, find his own offense, especially late in games, put Dillon Brooks in a position to build off his offensive career year, allow Jalen Green to fully acclimate himself after an injury-packed first season on the Suns, and work in the team’s new starters around him, Green and Brooks
Brandon Duenas: The X-Factor term has so many different meanings. To me, it is someone who doesn’t jump off the page as a headliner. They are not the person you go to an arena to watch play. It is not Devin Booker (sorry Holden). It’s not even Dillon Brooks anymore.
It’s the player who can not only swing a game, but it’s the player who does the little things throughout. It’s the player who doesn’t get the recognition they deserve. It’s the player that mimics the phrase “you don’t know what you got til it’s gone.” To me, that is Jordan Goodwin.
We all saw what happened to the Suns’ perimeter defense without him against OKC. He is indispensable. He is the heart and soul of this team, and when he’s on offensively, very few can impact the game on both ends as he does. The silent assassin. When he goes, boy are the Suns tough to beat.
Bruce Veliz: An X-Factor for me is someone who will truly change or help shape a better season for this team. Last year, the X-Factor made that clear when he got here and shook up the culture and stepped up to the plate when injuries came to play. That is someone I am looking for this year to really help change the narrative once again on what people expect for this team, and the X-Factor to me is the person who changes that trajectory.
That’s why this year for me the X-Factor has to be Khaman Maluach, and even more so, I think now with the recent injury to Mark Williams. Maluach has to step out and really show some signs of progress after his rookie year, where he didn’t get as much of an opportunity as people may have expected/wanted. Now, after a solid summer league and being a lottery pick, the eyes are all on him to truly help this team make it to the next level, even if it’s not immediate. He will be the true catalyst in a lot of discussions surrounding this team, regardless of whether he does or doesn’t pan out.
If he can pan out, he’s that center the Suns have been wanting since the Ayton draft pick and someone who can truly be that dominant big man to Booker’s game, bringing a solid 1-2 punch. If he can reach that, not only does the future look bright for Phoenix, but the KD trade looks even better in hindsight for the team’s direction it pivoted to.
Kevin Humphries: An X-factor to me is a role player, often unproven, that will swing games for the Suns in their favor consistently. Last season, Oso Ighodaro was the ultimate X-factor to me because he was not a star player but arguably starred in his role better than anyone else on the team. He was one of the Suns’ top 5 players last season and won many games for Phoenix.
While I want to go with Ighodaro again, I believe Collin Gillespie is this year’s X-factor for Phoenix. Gillespie started 58 games last season and logged heavy minutes throughout the season, often playing through visible discomfort. In 2025-26, he had the 7th-most made threes in the NBA and was 10th in attempts. He shot a blistering 40.1% from long distance. He also averaged 4.6 assists, which was second on the team.
He will most likely start this season on the bench, but will be the first player off it and will start games when any non-center is injured. He will be the head of the snake for the bench this season, which will once again swing games. The Suns could have the best bench unit in the NBA because of Gillespie, and he could easily earn 6th Man of the Year award votes at season’s end. The big question for Gillespie is whether he can repeat his level of shooting and playmaking again this season. And if he maintains or improves his play this season, there is a case for him to start over Jalen Green to balance out the rotation for Jordan Ott. If that happens, it could force the front office’s hand to move on from Green because Gillespie is the better player.
Tom Mildenberger: X-factor means to me someone who, if they do well or play poorly, can affect the Suns’ win totals. My X-factor is Jordan Ott.
There were a lot of things to love about Ott’s first season in terms of buy-in and culture. He was not able to scheme even a game in the postseason where Devin Booker was free to be the number one scoring option. In his second year, he needs to be more intentional about which players he wants taking shots.
Mark Bowser: I am framing an X-factor as someone who is less predictable, and could also sway the season with a high-end outcome. I considered Man Man because of the extended time on the court he’s likely to get. I understand Booker, but I feel like we mostly know what we’re getting with him.
While not probable, let me submit that a best-case Jalen Green playing a high fraction of the 82 games, being a better distributor (not saying CP3 or KJ here), quicker ball movement, and improving three-point accuracy with improved chemistry year two in the system would easily be our #2 player and a likely All-Star. It would have positive ripple effects on other players, including Book. While also not likely, another injury-plagued season and reduced efficiency, potentially even pouting if there are fewer shots for him with the Bridges addition, could weigh down the team’s hopes. High variance player and our 2026-27 X-factor.
What did members of our community say?
There’s probably no single right way to define an X-factor, and that’s what makes the conversation interesting. It can be the role player who swings a game, the player whose absence exposes a weakness, the guy who takes a leap, or even the coach responsible for putting everyone in the right position. For the Suns, there are plenty of candidates, and everyone has a different reason for putting their name on the list.
So now we want to hear from you. How do you define an X-factor, and who is your X-factor for the 2026–27 Phoenix Suns? Is it one of the names mentioned above, or is there someone we overlooked? Let us know in the comments.
