{"id":310044,"date":"2025-09-29T08:22:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T08:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/310044\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T08:22:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T08:22:18","slug":"khaman-maluach-earns-praise-for-one-key-defensive-trait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/310044\/","title":{"rendered":"Khaman Maluach earns praise for one key defensive trait"},"content":{"rendered":"

After just a few practices, Phoenix Suns<\/a> rookie Khaman Maluach is drawing high praise from teammates and coaches for his early play in training camp this week.<\/p>\n

Maluach was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team at Duke, averaging 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on 71.2% shooting from the field. He ranked sixth in the country in offensive rebound percentage (16.5) and 2-point percentage (75.4).<\/p>\n

The 7-footer emerged as a defensive anchor for the Blue Devils last season, thanks to his size and 7-foot, 6 3\/4-inch wingspan. He has showcased those traits ahead of the preseason and appears to be ahead of speed in one key defensive area.<\/p>\n

“He talks nonstop on the court,” Suns guard Grayson Allen said on Saturday<\/a>. “He is commanding the defense, calling out coverages, constantly talking. For a rookie, let alone a 19-year-old guy, to come into a gym and do that on the first day of training camp is impressive. He is already ready in that aspect.”<\/p>\n

Maluach made three appearances with the Suns in the NBA Summer League, averaging 10 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on 35.7% shooting from the field. He debuted with 14 points and five rebounds on July 11 in a win over the\u00a0Washington Wizards.<\/p>\n

The 10th pick is a\u00a0part of a crowded frontcourt<\/a>\u00a0for the Suns, along with Mark Williams, Nick Richards and Oso Ighodaro. The group, according to Allen, has crashed the glass at a high level and looks to be battling hard for playing time.<\/p>\n

Maluach should have the opportunity to see rotation minutes in the preseason, starting on Oct. 3 against the Los Angeles Lakers. The team wants to encourage him to be himself on the court, which should enable him to develop at a high level.<\/p>\n

“You can hear him in September open gym, whether he was playing or on the sidelines,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said<\/a>. “He was definitely talking. Our job as coaches, people and mentors around him is to allow him to be himself, and if that’s him and his spirit, we want to keep continuing to hear him.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After just a few practices, Phoenix Suns rookie Khaman Maluach is drawing high praise from teammates and coaches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,2501,6,3494,67,61,134,2065,472,4045,132,66,83,3166,604],"class_list":{"0":"post-310044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-league","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-summer-league","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-overall","14":"tag-overall-positive","15":"tag-phoenix","16":"tag-phoenix-suns","17":"tag-phoenixsuns","18":"tag-positive","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-sports-news","21":"tag-summer","22":"tag-suns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115286621956422144","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}