Suns’ Dillon Brooks shares the last time he lacked confidence
Dillon Brooks scored a season-high 32 points in just 28 minutes in the Phoenix Suns’ win against the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 13, 2025.
On Friday, the Valley Suns’ biggest attractions were the Suns’ top two rookies who were assigned to the team, Khaman Maluach and Rasheer Fleming.The 6-foot-9 St. Joseph’s product Fleming led the Valley Suns with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added 11 rebounds.The former 7-foot Duke big Maluach produced nine points, three blocks and two steals in 26 minutes.
The Phoenix Suns‘ G League team Valley Suns squandered a 22-point lead and lost, 107-104, to the Portland Trail Blazers‘ affiliate Rip City Remix on Friday, Nov. 14 at Arizona State’s Mullett Arena.
Suns’ general manager Brian Gregory and several players, including Dillon Brooks, Nick Richards, Ryan Dunn, Jordan Goodwin, Collin Gillespie and Oso Ighodaro attended the Valley Suns’ second-ever home opener. Gillespie spent most of last season with the Valley Suns. He’s now a regular part of the Phoenix Suns’ rotation at point guard.
On Friday, the Valley Suns’ biggest attractions were the Suns’ top two rookies who were assigned to the team, Khaman Maluach and Rasheer Fleming. Maluach was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2025 draft via Houston as part of the Kevin Durant trade. Fleming was the No. 31 pick in a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves. A third Phoenix 2025 draft pick, two-way player Koby Brea, was sent to the G League team earlier.
“Those are my brothers,” said Brea (11 points, eight rebounds, three assists), after the game about Maluach’s and Fleming’s G League assignment. “We were happy in the locker room excited to go after it. It kind of sucks that we didn’t get the win, but hopefully I know they’ll be new opportunities, but we’ll get it.”
The 6-foot-9 St. Joseph’s product Fleming led the Valley Suns with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added 11 rebounds. Fleming set the team’s tone early as he nailed its first shot on a corner 3. He ended the game 3-of-8 from the arc. He put on a shooting clinic during the first half when he nailed 6-of-7, scoring nine in the second quarter, including a drop-step dunk during the Valley Suns’ 10-2 surge to extend their largest lead to 18 at 9:41.
“I’m ready to hoop whenever,” Fleming said. “I had fun. I’m upset we lost, for sure, but outside of that, I had a good time playing, on to just getting my legs loose and getting warm felt good overall.”
The former 7-foot Duke big Maluach produced nine points, three blocks and two steals in 26 minutes.
“You see it in flashes with Khaman,” Valley Suns coach Paul Jesperson said. “Screening angles, defensively just his presence in the paint, making things difficult. That’s real with him. He drives field goal percentage down. So similar to Rasheer, he’s going to continue to work, continue to chip away and look as we will see quick growth from both of them.”
Rip City’s Dillon Jones had a game-high 30 points along with five steals, seven rebounds to lead the team’s second-half surge. Yang Hansen, a 7-foot-3 big from China, made his G League debut. He was drafted 16th in the 2025 draft by Memphis and later went to Portland. He scored eight points, had a game-high 13 rebounds, and added four assists, one steal and one block.
The Valley Suns led by 20 at halftime, but got sloppy with the ball during the first four minutes of the third quarter. The Remix surged on a 16-4 run to cut the lead to eight and snared four steals during that span. The Valley Suns’ offensive struggles persisted early in the fourth when they added five more turnovers (23 total) through 7:49 left to play, and their lead was cut to five.
Jones was fouled on a fast-break layup by Brea with 1:24 left and the Valley Suns were up by one. Brea slammed the ball in frustration and was assessed a technical foul. Jones made the first of three free throws to tie the game, but missed the next two, including the tech. But the Remix got the rebound on the second miss and Jayson Kent (12 points) nailed a triple to go up by three.
The Remix’s Javonte Cooke (16 points, six rebounds, two blocks) snatched an errant pass from the Valley Suns’ Damion Baugh (22 points, eight turnoevers) and Cooke made a layup to push the margin to five. Malauch’s two subsequent FTs from a foul on Hansen cut it to two at 44 seconds. Then Jones’ 15-footer stretched the lead back to four, and he sank two additional FTs from another foul in the closing seconds. Brea’s final trey made at the buzzer didn’t matter.