The Suns took a real swing this offseason, and the bet starts with Miles Bridges. Phoenix wanted more size, more switchability and another perimeter body who can bang with bigger wings, and one anonymous scout thinks Bridges checks those boxes in a hurry.
“Bridges is one of those guys that passes the eye test,” an anonymous NBA scout told Sports Illustrated. “Analytics test, he's not as strong.
But I think he'll help the Suns just with the size. They're going to be a pretty big, physical team on the perimeter.
So I would expect him to be able to switch and guard some bigger guys with him, Brooks, even Booker's not slight. Booker is not an A+ defender either, but he's no slouch and he can fight.
So Bridges adds quite a bit of the same to that, so they'll be pretty hard to attack with your small-small stuff.
“They will miss Grayson Allen. He was a nice little piece to have with guys like Green and Booker, because it's one less guy you can help off of.
So we'll see if the Suns can replace that shooting. Bridges doesn't have the same gravity as a shooter, but he'll obviously add some different things that Allen didn't do.
But I was always an Allen fan because he made you have to second guess what your scheme was when he was out there.”
Phoenix’s offseason has been busy in a way that didn’t seem obvious at first glance. The Suns moved up to get the 30th pick in the 2026 draft and used it on Koa Peat, a local Arizona talent.
They also kept two familiar rotation pieces in Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin on new long-term deals. Then came the trade for Bridges, who averaged 17.1 points per game last season while helping Charlotte push for a playoff spot.
He’s in the final year of a three-year deal that will pay him $22.9 million this season.
The move, though, came with real costs. Phoenix sent out Allen and O’Neale, two veteran players who helped stretch the floor around Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks. To patch some of that shooting back in, the Suns signed Kennard to a two-year, $13 million contract.
Even with the reshuffling, there’s no getting around the biggest concern on the roster: the frontcourt. Another scout pointed directly at center as the issue, especially with Mark Williams now sidelined for an “extended” period after suffering a torn labrum and undergoing surgery last week.
“I think a big question for them is the big spot,” an NBA scout told SI. “I know Khaman Maluach had a pretty good summer, so perhaps he's ready to play and can add some more depth there.
Then the other question will be, I think as far as Brooks’s numbers go, is he just scoring at a volume or is he capable of playing some winning basketball with Booker? Defensively he’s good, but I think they're going to be relying on him to score quite a bit, so we'll see how efficiently he does it.”
Williams started 55 games at center last season and re-signed with Phoenix in July on a three-year, $38 million deal, but the injury leaves the Suns leaning on Maluach and Oso Ighodaro. Maluach, the lottery pick from Duke in 2025, averaged just 8.9 minutes per game as a rookie. Ighodaro, a 6’11” forward, could also spend plenty of time at the five after proving useful off the bench last season in the frontcourt.
That’s the balancing act for Phoenix now. The Suns have more variety than they did a year ago, and Bridges gives them another scorer who can create matchup problems.
Jalen Green is still the wild card in all of it. He played only 32 games in his first Phoenix season because of injuries, but his talent and scoring bursts give the Suns a second high-end shot creator next to Booker.
“I might be a little higher on Jalen Green than most,” an NBA scout told SI. “But I think it's nice when you have more than one guy that can get a shot when you need to get a shot off.
I guess you could argue Brooks is kind of that guy too, but I don't trust his shot selection, the quality of the shots he would get. But if Green's playing well, he can definitely create his own, and creates matchup problems...
You don't have a whole lot of those guys usually on the floor, so that could be a way they attack.”
Last season, Phoenix finished 45-37, claimed the No. 8 seed in the West and then got swept by Oklahoma City in the first round. The Suns were better than expected, but they also looked out of their depth against the league’s elite.
This version of the roster feels different, with more perimeter size and a little more scoring juice. Whether that translates into more wins is another matter.
The depth lost in the Bridges deal makes the whole thing look close to a wash.
In Other News...
Suns Suddenly Have A Real Center Debate They Cant Ignore
Mark Williams absence has turned the Suns center spot into a real roster question, and it is one they will have to answer without a lot of time to spare. With the big man sidelined by a torn labrum, Phoenix is left to sort through Oso Ighodaro and Khaman Maluach as its remaining options in the middle, a spot that suddenly matters a lot more for a team trying to settle its rotation and keep its front line functional.
Ighodaro brings one set of strengths, Maluach another, and the Suns now have to decide which direction best fits the way they want to play while Williams recovers. Even before the injury, the center room looked like a place where development and fit would matter as much as raw size, and now that discussion has become unavoidable for Phoenix as it looks to keep pace in the weeks ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Enter A Make Or Break Season Around Devin Booker
Phoenix enters the season with Devin Booker still at the center of everything, but the pressure around him feels heavier than it has in years. The roster around him is thin on certainty, the draft cupboard is close to empty, and recent moves like the addition of Miles Bridges have not done much to quiet questions about whether this group has enough depth to matter in the West.
The bigger issue is how little margin for error remains if the Suns stall again. This is not just about getting back to relevance, but about whether the front office can justify keeping the current core intact if the team does not take a real step forward, with any further disappointment pushing the franchise toward uncomfortable choices about Bookers future and what a reset would even look like. [Read more 🡒]