In Phoenix, "role players" are now finding their place in the sun

Royce O'Neill with the Suns This 2025/26 version of the Suns is counting on their “roles” and that is in contrast to the team we saw last season, who relied on their stars… to no avail as Phoenix failed to make the playoffs.

From now on, the Suns are counting on their “second unit” to remain effective, even when Devin Booker he goes to sit on the bench. Proof of that: Jordan Ott’s replacements have the seventh “net rating” (difference between points scored and conceded over 100 possessions) among all NBA benches at +1.1 and it goes up to +3.5 in the first half, only Spurs (+5.7) and Thunder (+5.2) had a better average.

“We pride ourselves on going out on the field, moving the ball and impacting the game.” rejoiced Oso Ighodaro after the success against the Kings in early January. “We found our identity.”

This observation was confirmed during the win against the Wizards (112-93). In the first quarter, when Devin Booker was replaced, Phoenix had a two-point lead. When the four-time All-Star returned to the game, his team led by 13 lengths midway through the second act.

“I loved the way they played when they first came in,” half Jordan Ott after the meeting, when asked about the great impact of his replacements. “They applied a lot of pressure on both sides of the court. They moved the ball well, cut to the basket and set good screens. They switch a lot on defense, but they also want to cause turnovers and get rebounds.”

The group is always in rhythm

Symbol of the Phoenix coach’s words, this sequence at the beginning of the second quarter where Ryan Dunn succeeds in a tap after a missed shot Roy O’Neal. He scored the winning basket on the next possession. The order is in process Grayson Allen to grab an offensive rebound before shooting from distance. This passage allows the Suns to take an eight point lead.

“They have good chemistry,” underlines Devin Booker. “They move the ball and there’s no drop in tempo when we leave the field. We realize that’s important to achieving our goals.”

After this success against the Wizards, the Suns will embark on a six-game road trip to the East. A journey during which Jalen Green was able to return to the field after missing the last two months of competition, as mentioned Jordan Ott after the win against Washington.

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			Shots			Rebounds
Players	MJ	Min	Shots	3pts	LF	Off	Def	That	Pd	Bp	Int	Ct	Ft	Pts
Devin Booker	36	11:55 p.m	45.8	30.6	85.6	0.8	3.1	3.9	6.4	3.3	0.9	0.3	2.7	25.3
Dillon Brooks	33	30:38	45.6	35.6	84.9	0.7	2.6	3.3	1.8	2.0	1.2	0.1	3.4	21.2
Jalen Green	2	15:00	47.8	42.9	60.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	0.0	1.0	15.5
Grayson Allen	22	29:35	41.7	37.9	82.4	0.6	2.2	2.8	3.8	1.8	1.6	0.3	2.3	15.2
Collin Gillespie	39	28:03	43.2	40.8	84.4	1.1	3.1	4.1	4.9	1.7	1.4	0.3	1.4	13.2
Mark Williams	34	23:46	66.1	100.0	79.3	3.1	5.1	8.2	1.1	1.0	1.1	0.9	2.3	12.3
Roy O’Neal	39	29:26	43.5	42.4	66.7	0.7	4.4	5.1	2.8	1.5	1.3	0.3	2.3	10.5
Jordan Goodwin	36	21:40	39.5	34.5	73.3	1.9	2.7	4.6	2.3	1.2	1.4	0.2	1.6	9.1
Jamaree Bouie	19	14:44	56.2	41.0	68.8	0.5	1.5	2.1	1.7	0.4	0.6	0.4	0.7	7.6
Ryan Dunn	32	21:47	44.4	30.2	69.2	1.7	3.2	4.8	1.8	1.1	1.0	0.6	2.5	6.9
Very Ighodaro	39	19:37	62.2	0.0	46.9	1.3	3.1	4.4	1.8	1.2	0.9	0.6	2.6	5.3
Nick Richards	27	9:24 am	49.3	0	67.9	1.3	2.1	3.4	0.3	0.9	0.1	0.5	1.4	3.3
Rasheer Fleming	23	7:10	34.8	20.0	77.8	0.7	0.6	1.3	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.8	2.7
Isaiah Livers	20	10:33	37.5	34.5	83.3	0.6	1.4	2.0	0.7	0.5	0.4	0.3	1.2	2.3
Kobe Brea	2	4:00 am	33.3	0.0	100.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.0
Nigel Hayes-Davies	23	7:50	34.9	13.3	50.0	0.5	0.8	1.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.7	1.4
Khaman Maluach	18	4:40	40.0	0.0	87.5	0.3	0.7	1.0	0.2	0.5	0.1	0.4	0.8	1.3