{"id":674358,"date":"2026-03-23T11:35:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/674358\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:35:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:35:46","slug":"suns-lean-on-potential-future-cornerstones-to-thwart-raptors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/674358\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns lean on potential future cornerstones to thwart Raptors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Suns lean on potential future cornerstones to thwart Raptors<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PHOENIX\u2013 A convincing 120-98 Phoenix Suns<\/a> win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday might\u2019ve shown the future cornerstones with the bundle of young players the franchise has.<\/p>\n

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Guys like Khaman Maluach<\/a>, Rasheer Fleming, and Ryan Dunn have been at the forefront. While Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, and Jalen Green receive the limelight, the previous three made their mark.<\/p>\n

Whether it is Dunn\u2019s growing confidence for the Suns<\/a>, or Fleming gaining the respect of the locker room, or Maluach\u2019s oozing potential, options look endless.<\/p>\n

During Sunday\u2019s win, Dunn had 12 points and three steals while connecting on five of his eight shots. Meanwhile, Maluach had seven points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes, with a +19 in the box score.<\/p>\n

Considering the myriad of injuries and the lackluster performance 24 hours prior, the youth movement showed itself again. It\u2019s something Dunn hopes that extends<\/a> beyond the season.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI love it. Playing with those two, they give a lot of life and youthful life,\u201d Dunn said, when asked about the Suns\u2019 rookies postgame. They stepped up a lot from the start of the season till now\u2026 Man Man, he\u2019s coming in here, confident, talking a lot, shooting, you have the size and athleticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s kind of scary, me and him on the floor together, defensively\u2026 I hope we can grow and get better through our careers here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khaman Maluach, Ryan Dunn, Rasheer Fleming are the Suns future cornerstones<\/p>\n

Maluach\u2019s playing time has slowly increased since after the trade deadline. Phoenix dealt Nick Richards and Nigel Hayes-Davis, opening more room in the front court.<\/p>\n

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Combining that with a sudden Mark Williams injury provided the ultimate mix for the former Duke center to make an impression. Whether or not the Suns wanted to play Maluach<\/a> this quickly, there wasn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n

Regardless, they ended up trusting the potential, even through some of the growing pains.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s game was a small sample as to what a potential front court with Dunn, Fleming, and Maluach could look like, which intrigues the latter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really fun because I see the work they put in,\u201d Maluach explained, when asked about playing with Dunn and Fleming. I see how many hours they put in at the gym.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve seen how much they\u2019ve got better from the first time I saw them in the summer league. It\u2019s just been a process for all of us, and we\u2019re really trusting the process and just keep on getting better each and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Devin Booker gets 100% on Suns\u2019 playoff seeding chase<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Jalen Green thought Suns should\u2019ve \u2018killed\u2019 Bucks in close loss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Suns lean on potential future cornerstones to thwart Raptors appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,2292,1195,861,958,6,2065,472,4045,2028,4909,604,6445,476],"class_list":["post-674358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix-suns","tag-basketball","tag-devin-booker","tag-dillon-brooks","tag-jalen-green","tag-khaman-maluach","tag-nba","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-phoenixsuns","tag-rasheer-fleming","tag-ryan-dunn","tag-suns","tag-the-suns","tag-toronto-raptors"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116278285019355383","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674358","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=674358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}