The Suns may have caught a real break when the 2026-27 schedule dropped. Before the season even settles in, Phoenix gets a chance to stack wins at home and put itself in a strong spot early.
The biggest gift is a seven-game homestand in November, a stretch that could do a lot of the heavy lifting for this team. From November 4 through the first half of the month, the Suns will be at home for nearly everything, and plenty of those matchups look manageable on paper. If they handle business, they could head into their first long road trip with momentum and a record that looks a lot better than even.
That run starts against the Portland Trail Blazers on November 4. It is a game Phoenix should be expected to win, and it carries a little extra edge after Portland knocked the Suns out in the Play-In Tournament last season.
After that comes a home slate that lines up well for Phoenix: the Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, LA Clippers, Charlotte Hornets, and Los Angeles Lakers. The source material views Orlando as a win, says Houston is one to get up for because of Kevin Durant, and labels Charlotte as “Phoenix East,” another game the Suns should take.
The Clippers are described as an easy win, while San Antonio is the one loss in the group. The Lakers, meanwhile, are part of the kind of matchup Phoenix has to be ready for as the calendar turns.
Put it all together, and a 6-1 stretch is on the table.
What makes that November run even more appealing is how few games come before it. Phoenix will have played only five times by then.
The opener is in Portland, followed by two meetings with the Golden State Warriors, one at home and one on the road. The Denver Nuggets at home are always a tough assignment, and the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road are as difficult as it gets.
Strip out those two heavyweight games, and the Suns could realistically be sitting at 3-2 before the homestand even begins. If they take care of the favorable spots in The Valley, a 9-3 start is not out of the question.
That would leave Phoenix in a strong place before the schedule tightens again. After the homestand, the Suns go on the road for five games, and three of those - at Utah, New Orleans, and Sacramento - also look winnable on paper before the grind really kicks in.
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Haywood Highsmiths return to the Suns is one of those low-profile moves that can still ripple through a roster. Phoenix brought him back on a one-year minimum-salary deal for the 2026/27 season, and the contract is built with the kind of fine print that teams use when every dollar matters. In a season where the Suns are clearly trying to stay disciplined on the books, Highsmith gives them a familiar wing option while adding another layer to their roster management.
The larger significance is in how Phoenix structured the deal, with the Suns working to manage their luxury tax situation by lowering Highsmiths cap charge. It is the sort of maneuver that often gets buried under bigger headlines, but it can shape what the front office is able to do elsewhere. Highsmith also had other interest, which only adds a little more weight to a signing that looks simple on the surface and far more strategic underneath. [Read more 🡒]
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For a team trying to improve both its talent evaluation and its cap situation, that matters. The Suns have spent enough time paying for mistakes and thin depth, so any hint that the front office is getting better at identifying the right young players carries real weight, especially as the roster continues to shift around them. [Read more 🡒]