Luke Kennard’s arrival in Phoenix is going to be sold first and foremost as a shooting move, and that part is easy to understand. He led the league in 3-point percentage last season at 47.8 percent, and the Suns are getting exactly the kind of floor-spacer that can change how a rotation looks on a given night.
But there’s another part of Kennard’s game that should matter to Phoenix fans just as much: he may not be the defensive liability some would expect. That’s especially relevant for a team that already watched Grayson Allen walk out the door and is also trying to account for the loss of Royce O’Neale. The Suns are hoping for a sophomore breakout from Rasheer Fleming, too, but Kennard is the veteran name in the middle of that conversation.
The easy comparison is Allen, and that’s too neat. Allen was more than just a shooter in Phoenix; he brought underrated athleticism and, fairly or not, a reputation as a dirty player. He also gave the Suns more on defense than he usually gets credit for, and Kennard’s profile has some overlap there.
Phoenix finished 9th in defensive rating last season at 112.9, but it was a different story when Allen was on the floor, where that number climbed to 116.9. Kennard’s own defensive rating last season was 116.8, though that drops to 113.7 if you include his time with the Atlanta Hawks.
That doesn’t make him a stopper, and nobody is pretending otherwise. Opponents will target him.
Still, there’s enough there for the Suns to work with. Lineups that feature Kennard and Jalen Green - and, on some nights, Devin Booker - are going to have to survive some heavy scoring pressure.
The hope is that Bridges and Dillon Brooks can handle the tougher matchups, leaving Kennard to guard smaller guards. That creates its own issue, since Green will also need to be hidden in certain spots, but that’s a separate problem.
The bigger picture is simple: Phoenix was always going to lose some of its defensive identity after moving on from Allen and O’Neale. Kennard won’t replace that by himself. The Suns just need him to hold up well enough that coach Ott can still piece together a defense that lands around league average.
In Other News...
Suns Just Made The Kind Of Move Fans Have Been Begging For
The Suns spent the early part of the summer making sure two of their most useful pieces were not going anywhere, re-signing Collin Gillespie and Mark Williams on multi-year deals that lock in backcourt steadiness and frontcourt size. Gillespies rise was one of the quieter success stories on the roster, a breakout season that gave Phoenix a reliable shooting presence and a new franchise benchmark from beyond the arc, while Williams gave the team the kind of interior production it has long needed when he was on the floor.
For a front office that has been under pressure to get value and continuity right, both contracts look like the sort of business fans have been asking for. Analyst Steph Noh viewed each deal as favorable relative to the impact the Suns can reasonably expect, which matters for a team trying to build around players who can actually fit together. The bigger question now is how much more of the roster Phoenix can stabilize after checking off two important boxes. [Read more 🡒]
Two Young Suns Suddenly Face A Brutal Fight To Stick
With the Suns roster now set for the season, the attention has shifted from building the team to sorting out who actually fits in the nightly rotation. Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro are both expected to get a longer look, but the path to steady minutes is anything but clear, especially with the front office having added more bodies who can crowd the same spots on the floor.
Ighodaro has the cleaner case right now because of his versatility and the way he can fill different roles, while Dunn is facing a tougher climb as the competition tightens around him. If either player gets squeezed out of the rotation, the pressure only grows from there, because the Suns are already in a position where every developmental decision has to be weighed against immediate help and the possibility of moving pieces before the deadline. [Read more 🡒]
Suns May Have Just Reopened A Problem Fans Thought Was Gone
The Suns latest swing has already drawn plenty of second-guessing, and its easy to see why. Phoenix sent Miles Bridges to Charlotte and brought back Grayson Allen, Royce ONeale and an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, a package that gives the roster more shooting, more wing depth and a future asset to point to if the move works out.
Still, the reaction around the deal has been far less settled than the Hornets side of it, where the focus has been on veteran help and draft capital after moving on from players viewed as bad influences. For Phoenix, the bigger question is whether this was a clean basketball upgrade or the kind of transaction that reopens old concerns about whether the Suns are buying into a short-term fit without much certainty about what comes next. [Read more 🡒]