Welcome to Inside the Suns, your weekly deep down analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team. Each week the Fantable – a round table of Bright Siders – give their takes on the Suns’ latest issues and news.

Fantable Questions of the Week

Q1: Although the Suns handled the Lakers fairly easily even after Devin Booker was sidelined with an injury, do you think that kind of performance is sustainable until he returns?

GuarGuar: It’s definitely going to be a big challenge if we are without our offensive hub for a while. There is no player on this team who comes close to drawing as much attention as Book…which frees up others. We are going to be taking more contested shots as a team; it’s just gonna come down to whether we hit those looks. I have faith in Grayson/Gillespie/Brooks performing well and keeping afloat somewhat, though.

Ashton: I was just shaking my head at this question. At this point, we do not know the extent of Booker’s injury, but let me guess. It is the holidays, Booker always seemed to have something go down during the season, and I agree with some of the posters on the board that Book may have been suffering a slight injury that exacerbated into a major one.

Which means the trainers suck at catching it.

Back to the question, the Suns have a lot of “surprising” guards. I did a search on the comment sections, and “surprised” was the keyword. Well, me too.

And keep in mind, there is still Koby Brea waiting with the Valley Suns. I think Book can probably sit it out until the New Year.

OldAz: Of course not! They caught the Lakers on the back half of a back-to-back on a night when they were first integrating LeBron back into the fold and got a great offensive game from Brooks and a career-best game from Gillespie. They also play the Rockets, Timberwolves, Warriors (twice), and Lakers again before facing any sub-.500 teams. Expecting them to sustain that high point we saw on Monday without Booker is simply not reasonable.

However, they are finally past the brutal stretch of back-to-back and 3 games in 4 nights for a while, and Grayson Allen should be back soon to add to their depth. Also, there is no reason to believe their defense and intensity will wane while Booker is out, so that should keep them in more games than would otherwise be expected. Anything .500 or better over these next six games would be awesome and would give Booker 3 weeks until Christmas and get us that much closer to Green returning as well. So while threat performance against the Lakers is probably not sustainable, competing and surprising some of these upcoming teams is possible.

Rod: No. The Suns not only caught the Lakers on a bad night but also had some stellar performances from Gillespie and Brooks to beat them as convincingly as they did. I think we can expect the same defensive effort, but against a good, rested team that doesn’t have to plan on assigning their best defender(s) to Book, it won’t be as easy to replicate that offensive performance. To say the least, it will be interesting to see where other teams focus their defensive pressure with Book out…and how well the focus of that attention performs under that pressure.

We’ve already seen nights before when the team as a whole just wasn’t shooting well, and those nights didn’t often end well for the Suns. With more offensive consistency, they might weather the storm well, but only time will tell if they can step up to that challenge.

Q2: After 22 games played, the Suns are on pace to win 48 games this season. Do you think that’s actually possible?

GuarGuar: Based on what I’ve seen, I actually do think it’s possible we win 48+. We are 13-9, and this team hasn’t even been remotely healthy. Jalen has missed the entire season, Grayson has missed almost half, Brooks was out for a few weeks, Dunn was out for 10 days, and Mark doesn’t even play back-to-back games. We’ve yet to see this full group together, and yet here we are with a solid record so far. The way we play defense and our energy make me believe we can win close to 50 games this year.

The landscape has changed in the NBA Western Conference regarding which teams are considered the best and which are not. But as evidenced by injuries, a lot of the preseason expectations are falling by the wayside.

Thus, Vegas is hosed for the season.

But 48 wins is asking for too much. Rod, if you want your kudos, your preseason prediction that the Suns would win 40 games is on track.

OldAz: Maybe I am drinking the Kool-Aid here, but I think this is within the realm of possibility and would be a great accomplishment in Ott’s rookie season.

Their defense is sustainable and has actually been getting better. They are playing a deep bench, which has helped sustain periods of injury and let players fully recover before returning. Additionally, they have not only feasted on weaker teams, but have also secured wins over the Spurs (twice), Lakers, and Wolves, while competing well despite being short-handed against the Rockets, Thunder, and Nuggets. As long as their defensive intensity remains high, I believe it is possible to reach 48 wins, despite how unlikely it may have sounded before the season. I think 41 to 45 wins is more realistic, as it firmly places the team in the upper half of the play-in. Both of these would also exceed my pre-season hopes and dreams by a significant amount as well.

Rod: Possible? Yes. Probable? I would need good odds to actually make a bet on that. Why? Although the Suns have already proven to be better than expected, there is yet no reason to expect them to remain fully healthy for an extended period this season. If they could actually do that, then 48 wins is certainly even more possible. If they can’t, winning less than 40 is equally possible, and perhaps probable.

Q3: What are your thoughts on Royce O’Neale?

GuarGuar: Royce has been exceptional at playing his role to start the year. He really doesn’t force much and understands he’s a floor spacer and we have other guys who can shot create. His 1 on 1 defense isn’t what it was back early on in his career but he plays decent team defense still and that’s good enough for this group. Hopefully he keeps up the confidence and hot shooting!

Ashton: If he keeps making threes, I will buy all the two-dollar hot dogs he wants. If he pulls off steals, I might even throw in a 20-dollar beer.

A very general question, but he is not tradeable at this point. The only person is Nick Richards.

There needs to be a moniker for the 2025 Suns team that is better than “Next Man Up”. I do not have something to splash on billboards.

But color me Purple and Orange as surprised, and leave it to marketing.

OldAz: I was recently doing an interesting exercise in my mind, comparing the current roster to the 2021 team that went to the finals. Booker is still here, and I believe he is a bit better than he was. Williams has been an upgrade over DA, even with that being the height of what DA provided to the Suns. Dunn has pluses and minuses compared to Mikal but is still young and developing (hard not to compare him to the more developed Mikal from a few seasons later), and Brooks has been a massive upgrade over Crowder.

In this exercise, the biggest gap is always CP3, especially since the real 5th starter in Green has not even been on the court beyond 5 quarters. Gillespie has helped close this gap somewhat (no one is the passer and floor general that CP3 was), but I am now making that comparison, rather than comparing Gillespie only to the backup PG in Payne. Furthermore, GA essentially replicates what Cam J did for that team, leaving Royce Oneale with no real comparator, aside from Nader, Craig, and Shamet (he is certainly an upgrade over any of those 3). He really leads the depth on the 2021 crew that blows away anything from that 2021 year, partially because Monty didn’t play deep into his bench. Ott does a tremendous job playing a deep bench and getting the most out of everyone.

As it comes to Royce, he seems to do a lot of things OK, but is not super excellent at anything. His shooting has been great this year, but a lot of that has to be attributed to the team ball movement that is producing so many wide-open looks. He has excelled at these. He is also OK at bringing the ball up, but not great; ok passing, but not great; ok defensively, but not great. However, his versatility has allowed Ott to use him in whatever role is needed to fit the lineups together with whoever is not injured. From that standpoint, RO’s biggest asset this season (beyond the great shooting) has been his availability and his willingness to adopt the team concepts of effort, energy, and aggressive defense that Ott has implemented.

He really has been one of the more valuable pieces this year due simply to his availability and versatility.

Rod: I love having Royce on our team. He’s the kind of low-key role player that sometimes shines brightly when he’s hot from three but goes under the radar when he’s not, even though he’s finding other ways to make a positive impact. I tend to think of him as the Suns’ main ‘plug-and-play’ guy. Just let him know what his role is game to game, and he gives you solid minutes in that role.

In his calling card role, he’s connected on 41.8% of his threes. He’s unlikely to lead any team in rebounding, but so far, he’s been the Suns’ second-leading rebounder (5.4 per game). He’s also 3rd on the team in points generated by assists (159)! Add to all of that the fact that he’s one of only four Suns rotation players who have been available for every game this season, and he’s played the second-most total minutes (665) for the Suns this season.

In short, he has been a very valuable asset this season, often overshadowed by flashier performances from others, but has been a crucial key to their success so far.

As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!

“I think we got to remain humble and know that there’s a long season left.” – Collin Gillespie

“It (the win over LAL) shows we don’t have no quit. We’re always going to fight all 48 minutes. Next man up mentality.” – Royce O’Neale

“Wherever we’re at now, we’re 20, whatever games in, we’ve got to be better in Game 25, in Game 35. That’s what I’m focused on.” – Jordan Ott

“Dillon is the ultimate competitor. He’s going to go out there and play as hard as he can.” – Jordan Ott

“If you don’t play hard against that team, you’re going to get exposed.” – Lakers coach JJ Redick after 125-108 loss to Suns.

In their win over the Lakers, the Suns became only the fourth team in NBA history to record at least 16 steals while holding their opponent to one or fewer and the second team to accomplish it on the road. The other three teams to accomplish it were the 1981 Pacers, the 2009 Hawks, and the 2015 Celtics.

Collin Gillespie, Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen are the first trio of teammates in NBA history to each make 50+ three pointers at a 40% mark or higher through the first 20 games of a season.

On December 6, 2018, the Suns become the first team in the shot clock era to be held under 10 points in the first quarter of back-to-back games (since 1954-55) when they scored only 9 points in the first quarter in losses to the Sacramento Kings (122-105) on Dec. 4 and then again against the Portland Trail Blazers two days later in a 108-86 loss. Starters against the Kings were Elie Okobo, Josh Jackson, Mikal Bridges, Trevor Ariza and Deandre Ayton. The starting lineup for the Blazers game was the same except for Richaun Holmes starting in place of Deandre Ayton. De’Anthony Melton was the high scorer for the Suns in game 1 with 21 points and Troy Daniels was high scorer in game 2 with 15 points.

On December 9, 1993, the Suns’ Kevin Johnson became the 13th NBA player to ever record 10 steals in a game during the Suns’ 114-95 win over visiting Washington. By adding 17 points and 13 assists, KJ got his lone triple double of that season.

On December 10, 1969, the Suns pulled down 77 total rebounds and 46 in the second half alone in a 137-107 victory over the Baltimore Bullets. Paul Silas (16), Jim Fox (15), Neil Walk (13), and Connie Hawkins (11) all had double-digit rebounding numbers and out-rebounded the entire Bullets team 55-51 despite Baltimore’s Wes Unseld leading all in rebounding with 21.

This week’s game schedule

Friday, Dec 5 – Suns @ Houston Rockets (6:00 pm)
Monday, Dec 8 – Suns @ Minnesota Timberwolves (5:30 pm) Peacock
Wednesday, Dec 10 – Suns @ Oklahoma City Thunder (5:30 pm) Prime Video

This Week’s Valley Suns game schedule

Sunday, Dec 7 – Valley Suns @ Santa Cruz Warriors (4:00 pm)
Tuesday, Dec 9 – Valley Suns vs San Diego Clippers (8:00 pm) ESPN+

Jan. 5 – 10-day contracts may now be signed
Jan. 10 – All NBA contracts are guaranteed for the remainder of the season
Feb. 5 – Trade deadline (3:00 pm ET)
Feb. 13-15 – 2026 NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, CA
March 1 – Playoff eligibility waiver deadline
March 28 – NBA G League Regular Season ends
March 31 – 2026 NBA G League Playoffs begin
April 12 – Regular season ends (All 30 teams play)
April 13 – Rosters set for NBA Playoffs 2026 (3 p.m. ET)
April 14-17 – SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament
April 18 – NBA Playoffs begin