Happy Thanksgiving! This year in Arizona sports has been … hey, hey, where are you going?! Stick with me here.
There’s always something to be thankful for!
We are used to grand expectations blowing up in our faces, I get it.
Happened to the Phoenix Suns for two-plus years of the Kevin Durant era. Happened to the Arizona Diamondbacks after they did everything to win the offseason, too.
But we can be thankful for a lot that happened in the past year that keeps us tuning in and following these Arizona teams:
The new look Suns will not only fight people. They’ll win games.
It seemed like it was a stretch for any reasonable person to guess that this year’s Suns could surpass the 36 wins from 2024-25. It turns out that number was more an indictment of the prior team’s talent-to-wins ratio more than it was too high of a bar for the 2025-26 squad.
Even without a clear second star next to Devin Booker, the plan put forward by first-time coach Jordan Ott is a good one. The Suns are leaning on full-court pressure to increase pace. They are not putting the entirety of the offense on Booker, something more impressive considering Jalen Green has played only one full game so far.
They are scrappy, hit the offensive glass at a high rate despite their lack of size on the wings and love to pick fights with their opponents. To that last point: Dillon Brooks makes me cackle once each game.
Injuries and a tough schedule to come might bring the expectations back down to earth. But Ott and first-year GM Brian Gregory have gained buy-in from the players. With it, the Suns have their fans’ attention.
Moving on from Durant and Beal was a true shedding of dead weight, in different ways. Durant’s departure was a necessary thing; Beal’s was more urgent and financial. Together, it’s allowed us to enjoy the simple things, no distractions.
It’s about pure hoops these days, the good and the bad.
Last year was ASU football’s resurgence. They haven’t fallen off.
Look, last season was a great story. Kenny Dillingham legitimized his program-building by flipping a roster’s talent and working with AD Graham Rossini to activate the fanbase. A Big 12 title and College Football Playoff appearance created some energy around a program that got flattened by the prior regime.
And this season is bordering on more impressive. Reality is that repeat College Football Playoff appearances from a Big 12 team are never going to be a given.
Dillingham had to replace a cultural icon in Cam Skattebo. He had to keep ASU afloat when Sam Leavitt, who already was falling short of too-high expectations placed on his shoulders, got hurt.
The potential to reach nine wins and potentially a second Big 12 title game berth may be disappointing in the context of 2024, but it’s damn impressive still.
Last year was a resurgence for the sleeping giant football program. This year is validation that it wasn’t just a one-off.
And when’s the last time in this state we saw two eight-win football teams set up a highly charged Territorial Cup? The answer is 2014, but these high-stakes games are few and far between in the history of this rivalry.
Arizona basketball looks like a wagon
We could be wary about Tommy Lloyd’s NCAA Tournament success with pretty dang talented teams. We could feel validated for selling our Motiejus Krivas NBA Draft stock awhile ago and wonder why the Wildcats pursued keeping him over retaining Henri Veesaar.
We could wonder if Jaden Bradley can keep this up. Or if Brayden Burries can find his footing with pressure on him to become a go-to perimeter scorer.
And can anyone else other than Anthony Dell’Orso shoot the basketball?
But heck, let’s just be thankful the 2025-26 Arizona Wildcats give people this much hope.
The No. 2-ranked team in the nation started with an upset over reigning national champion Florida, riled up Dan Hurley by beating UConn in a true road game and broke UCLA enough that Mick Cronin dumped his starting lineup the next time out.
Koa Peat is a homegrown talent, a bruising old-school power forward with the maturity to believe he could be the No. 1 guy to push Arizona come tournament time.
There’s enough depth with youngsters like Dwayne Aristode, a prototype NBA wing, plus a veteran in the much-improved Dell’Orso.
This team has title-contender makings. It’s fine to believe that in November. It’ll just worry us come March.
The D-backs still have some dudes
Watching the 2025 Diamondbacks come after the 2024-25 Suns made us think: “Nah, this can’t happen again. They’ll be fine.”
They were not fine.
Superstar drama. Check.
Bad coaching. Check.
Lots of really good players having really good years but collectively playing for a not-so-good team. Check.
The good news: There are still some dudes on this roster.
Geraldo Perdomo will have to prove he can maintain an MVP-caliber level of play, but he is nonetheless the heart of the clubhouse. Corbin Carroll remains among the most uniquely talented athletes in the game when it comes to the speed and power combination. Corbin Burnes, we’d suspect, will return to form down the road.
And Ketel Marte has only grown more polarizing, because the requests for me-time and status as baseball’s best offensive second baseman create a complex profile.
If he’s back, that’s a heck of a contract to keep playing on. If he’s traded, you’d expect the D-backs receive at least one exciting core piece in exchange.
The Mercury navigated a complex page-turn
Diana Taurasi’s retirement and Brittney Griner’s free agency decision put the Phoenix Mercury in a difficult position.
Roster turnover was obviously necessary.
But not only did Phoenix general manager Nick U’Ren find returning All-Star Kahleah Copper running-mates — he found two All-Stars, Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally.
Thomas became the new-look Mercury’s engine behind a record number of triple-doubles, and second-year coach Nate Tibbetts found traction with a revamped squad that made the WNBA Finals.
Asking for more from that team, in that context, would be greedy. And we’re not going to be greedy this Thanksgiving.
