Miles Bridges is coming into Phoenix with a clear lane to help, and the Suns know exactly where they need it most.
There’s no debate about the scoring. Bridges has already shown he can put up numbers, averaging at least 20 points per game in three different seasons with Charlotte. The issue for the Suns is much more specific: they need him to clean up the glass on defense.
That was a glaring problem for Phoenix last season. The Suns finished fourth in the NBA in offensive rebounds at 13 per game, with Jordan Goodwin doing a lot of the heavy lifting off the bench and earning the Dan Majerle Hustle Award in the process.
But the other side of the rebounding battle told a much uglier story. Only the Brooklyn Nets pulled down fewer defensive rebounds than Phoenix’s 30.1 per game, and that weakness showed up in the scoreboard as well.
The Suns gave up 15.6 second-chance points per game, which landed them in the bottom 10 in the league.
Bridges gives them a shot to change that. He is set to take over the starting power forward role, and that alone could help Phoenix move away from the undersized looks it leaned on so often during a surprising 2025-26 season. Dillon Brooks and Royce O’Neale spent plenty of time at the four, and while both brought something useful on offense, those lineups left the Suns short on size and exposed defensively.
Bridges has not built his career as a top-tier rebounder, even with his length and athleticism. Still, he was among the top 25 in the league in 2024-25, when he set a career high with 7.5 rebounds per game.
That number dropped to 5.8 last season, his lowest since 2019-20. Even so, that would have ranked second on last season’s Suns, behind only Mark Williams.
Phoenix does not need Bridges to become a rebounding monster. It does need something much more realistic: a return to something closer to seven boards a night. If he can give the Suns that, the fit starts to make a lot more sense.
And the opportunity is there. Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, a (hopefully) healthy Jalen Green, Collin Gillespie, and Mark Williams give Phoenix enough scoring already.
Bridges’ value will come from doing the work that doesn’t always show up in the box score but absolutely changes whether a stop actually becomes a stop. If he can help push the Suns toward the middle of the pack in defensive rebounding, that would go a long way toward making his debut season a success.
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Suns Just Raised The Stakes On Miles Bridges Fast
The Suns missed out on Jonathan Kuminga, but they still came away with a swing for the present in Miles Bridges, a player who arrives with both upside and a ticking clock attached. Phoenix is clearly trying to sharpen the roster around Dillon Brooks and add more scoring punch, and Bridges gives the front office another chance to see whether a bigger role can turn into something more lasting.
The catch is that this kind of move usually comes with a second decision not far behind the first. The Suns already showed with Mark Williams that they are willing to extend a player after trading for him, and Bridges could push them into a similar conversation if he settles in as one of the teams core pieces. The question now is whether Phoenix sees him as a short-term fit or as someone worth paying to keep around if his impact grows quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Ryan Dunn Is Running Out Of Chances With The Suns
Ryan Dunn is heading into his third season in Phoenix with his place on the roster looking less secure than it once did. The Suns have several other young players and established veterans in the mix, and that has left Dunn fighting for a consistent role rather than stepping into one cleanly.
The longer that logjam lasts, the more his situation starts to look like a make-or-break stretch with the team. If Phoenix decides to move in another direction, Dunn would still have avenues to keep his career moving, whether that means finding work overseas or trying to reopen an NBA door later on. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Durant Just Reopened A Brutal Debate About His Suns Run
Kevin Durants time in Phoenix is still being measured against the promise that came with it, and his latest reflections only sharpen that conversation. He said the Suns had the pieces to be successful and entered with championship expectations, but the results never matched the vision, and his exit to the Houston Rockets last summer marked the end of a short, high-profile run that never quite found its footing.
The most difficult part for Suns fans is how quickly the window closed on the Durant-Booker-Beal era, with the partnership never delivering the breakthrough the franchise was chasing. Phoenix did at least recoup real value in the deal, landing a top ten draft pick along with Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, but the lingering question around Durants Suns tenure remains the same one that followed him out the door. [Read more 🡒]