The Suns’ uneven 1-2 start has put a familiar question back at the center of the conversation: who, exactly, is running the offense?
Chris Haynes said during an appearance on NBA TV’s The Association that some inside the locker room are feeling that pressure, pointing to a starting group that doesn’t include a traditional point guard.
“There is some growing frustration in that locker room (because) that roster does not have a point guard that can organize that offense,” Haynes said. “They’re starting Devin Booker, Jalen Green, and Dillon Brooks, so you have a situation where you don’t have a true, traditional point guard that can get everybody looks and get everything organized.”
Booker has effectively taken on that role since the start of the 2025/26 season. He led Phoenix with 6.0 assists per game last year and has bumped that up to a team-best 5.3 APG across the first three games this season.
That added responsibility has come with a tradeoff. Booker posted a 58.5% true shooting percentage last season, his lowest in four years, and he followed a 43-point game against Golden State on Saturday with just three points against an injury-hit Oklahoma City team on Monday.
Collin Gillespie is the Suns’ closest thing to a natural point guard among the rotation players. He is second on the team in assists this season at 4.3 per game, after finishing second last season at 4.6. But when Booker and Green are both available, Gillespie has not been part of Phoenix’s preferred starting five.
The numbers suggest there may be something to that mix. Last season, lineups featuring Booker and Gillespie posted a +7.0 net rating, while units with Booker and Green also held up well at +4.1.
Haynes also said Phoenix is sitting in the bottom half of the league in assists, though the team’s 25.3 per game actually ranks 19th. The Suns are a bit better in assist rate and assist-to-turnover ratio, so the issue is more about feel and organization than a dramatic lack of ball movement.
For now, there’s no sign the front office is preparing a move to fix it, according to Haynes. The hope is that Phoenix can continue to manage the position by committee, even if the early returns have created some frustration.
And the point guard question isn’t the only thing hanging over the roster. The Suns are also dealing with concerns about their three-point shooting, which sits at 31.9% through three games, and their work on the glass. With starting center Mark Williams out until 2027 while he recovers from shoulder surgery, Phoenix owns the NBA’s worst rebounding rate at 42.9% so far this season.
In Other News...
Suns Offensive Problem Is Turning Into A Bigger Roster Concern
Chris Haynes report put a sharper edge on something the Suns have been trying to manage all season: the offense has had to run through a committee, with multiple players sharing playmaking duties instead of one steady hand organizing possessions. That setup has come with drawbacks, including lower assist numbers and a more difficult time generating clean offense, and it has apparently started to wear on some players inside the locker room.
Phoenix is now weighing what it can do from within, while also leaving open the possibility of chasing a point guard if the right option emerges. For a team trying to stabilize its attack, the issue is no longer just about scheme or rhythm, it is becoming a roster question, and one the Suns have not yet publicly answered. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Still Havent Solved The Devin Booker Problem They Created
The Suns are still living with the ripple effects of the 2023 trade that sent Mikal Bridges to the Knicks for Kevin Durant, a move that changed the shape of the roster but did not necessarily make things easier around Devin Booker. Phoenix made the swing for star power, but the broader question has lingered ever since: whether Bridges would have been a cleaner fit next to Booker, and whether the Suns gave up a player whose two-way value would have helped balance the roster in a different way.
Bridges remains under contract with New York, while Phoenix keeps searching for the right formula to maximize Booker and re-open a real title window. That is the challenge now for a team that has already spent significant capital on trying to speed up contention, only to find itself still sorting through the fallout of its biggest decisions. The Suns do not just need talent. They need the kind of structure that makes Booker easier to build around, and that part has yet to be solved. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Trade Talk Is Heating Up Around A Booker Backcourt Need
The early season has only sharpened the same question around Phoenix: who is going to handle the true point guard duties next to Devin Booker? The Suns have plenty of reason to keep searching for a better fit in the backcourt, and the conversation around the roster has quickly turned from lineup tinkering to possible trade ideas that could better balance the offense and take pressure off Booker.
One name that keeps surfacing in the speculation is Dejounte Murray, with Jalen Green also part of the broader chatter in a possible deal framework that could help multiple teams sort out their backcourts. Nothing has been reported officially, but the idea reflects where Phoenix finds itself now, trying to address a clear need before the season gets any more difficult to manage. [Read more 🡒]