{"id":604862,"date":"2026-02-15T17:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T17:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/604862\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T17:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T17:29:17","slug":"suns-notes-highsmith-ishbia-brooks-2027-all-star-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/604862\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns Notes: Highsmith, Ishbia, Brooks, 2027 All-Star Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Rory Maher<\/a> |
\n at February 15, 2026 9:15 am <\/p>\n

The Suns have long been fans of Haywood Highsmith<\/a>, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic<\/a>, who hears from sources that the team has been eyeing the veteran forward for two years. Highsmith plans to sign a multiyear deal with Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Rankin writes that the Suns view Highsmith as a strong fit due his \u201ccompetitiveness and toughness.\u201d Although Phoenix has a standard roster opening the team can use to sign Highsmith, the Suns are also expected to waive<\/a> guard Cole Anthony<\/a>, Rankin confirms.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Suns:<\/p>\n

The Suns have already exceeded external expectations this season \u2014 they were only projected<\/a> to win 31.5 games, and they\u2019re currently 32-23, the No. 7 seed in the West and just three games out of the No. 3 spot. As Sam Amick of The Athletic<\/a> writes, Mat Ishbia was widely criticized around the league for leaning into his Michigan State ties in his first couple years as owner, but instead of going away from those connections, he doubled down and went all the way in last offseason.\u00a0Ishbia promoted<\/a> Brian Gregory, his former assistant coach with the Spartans, to be the Suns\u2019 new general manager, and worked with Gregory and CEO Josh Bartelstein to establish the team\u2019s hardworking culture. \u201cWhen people wanted to blame me last time, I wasn\u2019t actually doing it my way,\u201d Ishbia told The Athletic. \u201cNow, I am, and there\u2019s no question about it.\u201d
\nAccording to Amick, while James Jones was technically still Phoenix\u2019s head of basketball operations last February, it was actually Bartelstein who spearheaded communications with rival teams interested in trading for Kevin Durant<\/a>. League sources tell Amick the Rockets made a late pitch for Durant prior to last year\u2019s deadline, offering a package that included Jalen Green<\/a> and Jabari Smith Jr.<\/a>, but the Suns wanted Dillon Brooks<\/a> in the deal and decided to wait until the summer to revisit trade talks. A Rockets source denies Smith was ever included in the offer, Amick adds.
\nAs impressive as Phoenix\u2019s turnaround has been this season, the team still finds itself at an asset deficit after trading away so many draft picks and swaps to acquire Durant and Bradley Beal<\/a> in the first place, Amick notes. The Suns will also carry Beal\u2019s dead-money cap hit on their books for several more seasons, limiting their financial flexibility going forward.
\nSpeaking to the media on Saturday, All-Star guard Devin Booker<\/a> says he has enjoyed playing with Brooks this season, as Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays (Twitter video link<\/a>). \u201cDillon is a hardworking man. He\u2019s someone to rally behind. He\u2019s a fierce competitor. I wouldn\u2019t want it any other way. I\u2019d rather too competitive than to be the other way. It\u2019s been a pleasure playing with him,\u201d Booker said.
\nCommissioner Adam Silver discussed the 2027 All-Star game, which Phoenix will host, at his Saturday press conference, per Rankin (Twitter video link<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rory Maher | at February 15, 2026 9:15 am The Suns have long been fans of Haywood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3791],"tags":[2214,7,3223,406,2292,1195,2293,1346,861,5820,12192,938,3224,6,2065,472,4045,604],"class_list":["post-604862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-phoenix-suns","tag-adam-silver","tag-basketball","tag-brian-gregory","tag-cole-anthony","tag-devin-booker","tag-dillon-brooks","tag-haywood-highsmith","tag-jabari-smith","tag-jalen-green","tag-james-jones","tag-josh-bartelstein","tag-kevin-durant","tag-mat-ishbia","tag-nba","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-phoenixsuns","tag-suns"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116075834244635114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604862","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=604862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}