Phoenix Suns guard Jalen Green discusses joining the team
New Phoenix Suns guard Jalen Green on joining the team after being traded from the Houston Rockets for Kevin Durant.
The Suns finished last season with a losing record and missed the playoffs after trading Kevin Durant and buying out Bradley Beal.Phoenix is rebuilding around Devin Booker, who recently signed a two-year, $145 million extension.
Oh, how far the Phoenix Suns have fallen.
NBA.com has the Suns ranked 13th out of 15 Western Conference teams in its latest offseason power rankings. The New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz are 14th and 15th, respectively.
At this time a year ago, the Suns were fifth, trailing only the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Thunder won the 2024-25 NBA championship, defeating the Nuggets in the conference semifinals and the T-Wolves in the conference finals.
The Mavs traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a stunning blockbuster deal before the trade deadline and acquired Anthony Davis in return.
Dallas still reached the play-in tournament, but it lost to the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed.
Phoenix failed to make the postseason, winning just 36 games to mark its first losing season since 2019-20, which was the last time the Suns missed the playoffs.
The Suns fired Mike Budenholzer, traded Kevin Durant, bought out Bradley Beal and watched general manager James Jones leave. Now with a new head coach, Jordan Ott, and new general manager, Brian Gregory, Phoenix is rebuilding around Devin Booker.
The four-time All-Star signed a historic two-year extension for $145 million.
NBA.com has Oklahoma City ranked first in the West, followed by Denver, Houston, Minnesota and the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Suns traded Durant to the Rockets, and the Clippers signed Beal after Phoenix bought him out.
NBA.com’s John Schuhmann addressed a “key question” for each of the 15 conference teams. He posed the following one for Phoenix: Can Booker and Green play together?
The Suns acquired Green in the Durant trade.
Schuhmann wrote: “The Suns’ two highest-paid players are an interesting mix, and if the Suns are going to put their best players on the floor, they’ll be playing without a real point guard (which sounds familiar). Will Booker and Green — both of whom can create their own shot — get the Suns some easy baskets in transition? It will be fascinating to see how often they assist each other relative to the league’s other guard combinations.”
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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