The Suns are heading into Wednesday night with a chance to stack wins for the first time this season, and the setup is as favorable as it gets. Phoenix is coming off a 133-110 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, and now gets a Charlotte team sitting at 4-7 and dealing with a battered rotation.
The Hornets are missing Kon Knueppel, who has a left hamstring strain, Brandon Miller with a right hip strain, and Dennis Schroder with a left hamstring strain. Phoenix’s injury list is much shorter, with Mark Williams out after left shoulder surgery. He is expected to miss the next few months after suffering a torn labrum in the offseason.
Phoenix will stick with the same starting five again, and that group has already shown some traction. The Suns are 3-1 with that lineup, though the fit around Booker still has produced some of the offensive dry spells that have cropped up throughout the season.
One place Phoenix wants more of the same is from its bench. The reserves exploded for 81 points against the Clippers, the third-most bench points in a single game in franchise history and the most since Dec. 2, 1994.
This is also the first meeting between the Suns and Hornets since the summer blockbuster that sent Miles Bridges, a least-favorable 2029 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick to Phoenix in exchange for Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale and an unprotected 2033 first-round pick.
Allen has found a bigger scoring lane in Charlotte, where injuries have pushed him into a larger role. He is averaging 15.3 points while shooting 46.9% from 3-point range this season. Before the game, Allen said the return to Phoenix still carried weight for him.
"It's good to be back. I mean, this was a place that I was at the longest so far in my career," Allen said at shootaround earlier today (via PHNX Suns). "Probably the team or place I feel like I have the most connection to."
Allen spent three seasons with the Suns after being acquired in the trade that sent out Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara shortly before the 2023-24 season. Phoenix later added O'Neale during that same season, and both players were central pieces in the team’s turnaround last year.
Before tipoff, Suns coach Jordan Ott had nothing but praise for the pair.
"Ultimate professionals as humans and as players," Ott said. "They saw a lot before I arrived here. A lot of basketball in their careers, a lot of good basketball, a lot of wins, and they accepted us and took to us (on the) first day.
"Royce, incredible shooter. High IQ, elite end-of-game passer, and just a joy to be around every day as a person.
He was always up. There was never a down day.
"And then Grayson, we challenged him to change his game a little bit, and he absolutely took to it. Shoot tougher threes, shoot more of them, off the dribble, get downhill, play in the paint.
He was an elite offensive player that really helped us last year. So great guys on and off the court.
Couldn't speak more highly of two individuals that I've been around."
O'Neale, meanwhile, has not carried the same kind of workload in Charlotte that he had in Phoenix. Through 11 games, he is averaging 5.2 points on 35.2% shooting in 19.2 minutes per game. Still, the return meant something to him too.
"It definitely feels good to be back. Phoenix was a special place," O'Neale said at shootaround (via PHNX Suns). "I think that everything that happened here team-wise, teammates that I had, coaches, relationships with people around the arena, facility, so it's always going to be a good place for me and coming back just feels good."
Bridges will also see Charlotte from the other side for the first time since the Hornets drafted him 12th overall in 2018. He framed the night as just another game, even with the reunion element hanging over it.
"It's just another game, but I spent eight years with these guys, nine years. I'm definitely excited, but getting the W is the most important thing," Bridges said at shootaround (via The Arizona Republic's Duane Rankin).
Tipoff is set for shortly after 7 p.m. MST.
In Other News...
Suns Roster Buzz Just Shifted To A Much More Complicated Name
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Jalen Green is the name that complicates things the most because Mat Ishbia already stressed how important Green and Dillon Brooks were in the Kevin Durant deal. Green has not found much consistency this season, which only adds to the uncertainty around how Phoenix views him going forward. For now, the Suns are left balancing what they need in the present with the long view of a roster that still feels like it could shift again. [Read more 🡒]
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That shift has also sharpened the conversation around the center rotation, especially with Phoenix still investing in Khaman Maluach, the 2025 No. 10 pick, who is currently more of a bench presence. Ighodaros rise does not close the book on the Suns long-term plans, but it does make the present-day debate harder to ignore, because the team has found something that is functioning while the bigger-picture questions remain very much alive. [Read more 🡒]