The Suns have put Khaman Maluach in a spot that feels far bigger than he’s ready for, and the early results have only sharpened that concern.
A season ago, the No. 10 overall pick spent most of his time working with Phoenix’s G League affiliate while seeing only scattered NBA minutes in garbage time. Back then, plenty of fans wanted more of Maluach and less of Oso Ighodaro. This season has turned that idea on its head.
Now 20, Maluach has been pushed into the starting center role, with injuries helping open the door. Mark Williams has been out with a shoulder issue, and Ighodaro has missed time with a hip injury. But head coach Jordan Ott was already starting Maluach before Ighodaro went down, a choice that has made the Suns’ rotation look even more out of sync.
After Phoenix’s 125-114 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie took aim at the setup on his Game Theory Substack. He was blunt about the direction of the lineup and what he sees as a mismatch around Devin Booker.
“I hate everything about what this Phoenix team has done to its starting lineup,” Vecenie wrote, not holding back.
Vecenie also singled out Miles Bridges as a negative presence in the starting group, saying he is a net negative “because he can’t defend anyone.”
Maluach, though, was the player Vecenie believed needed the clearest correction. He said he doesn’t like the rookie’s minutes as a starter and argued that the big man belongs in a smaller role for now.
“I just don’t think his hands, screening or offensive processing skills are good enough yet for such a large role,” he wrote.
The numbers from the Thunder game backed up the concern. Maluach committed four turnovers in only 25 minutes, something Vecenie called “a killer” for a player who isn’t supposed to be carrying much of the offense.
Phoenix’s issues go beyond one young center, but the fit around him has only made the challenge harder. The Suns slowed his development last season for a reason, yet they’ve now placed him in a messy starting five that includes Bridges and the Booker-Jalen Green backcourt pairing Vecenie described as “duelling banjos.”
That’s why Ighodaro looks like the cleaner option once he’s available. He has more experience, and his screening, passing and ability to process the game are better suited to a lineup that doesn’t have a true floor general.
If Phoenix is going to keep rolling out a starting five without a natural point guard, the center has to help organize the offense. Maluach, through no fault of his own, isn’t there yet.
When Ighodaro is healthy, he should be the starter. Maluach can still matter plenty as a reserve, giving the Suns rim protection and useful minutes against opposing second units while he keeps developing. That path would put him in a position to grow without asking too much too soon.
Instead, injuries and roster construction have forced him into a larger role, and Ott’s decision to start him before Ighodaro got hurt made the situation even stranger. For a team that seemed cautious with Maluach a year ago, this abrupt shift has been hard to make sense of.
Suns fans can still believe in his upside. They just shouldn’t expect a 20-year-old rookie to carry it all right now.
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Phoenix will also have to manage that issue while dealing with another absence, with starting center Mark Williams sidelined. Denver brings its own injury questions into the game, listing two players as questionable and two out, and the Nuggets have a little extra incentive with a chance to move their record above .500. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Already Have A Defensive Problem They Can't Ignore
The early returns on defense have been rough enough to demand attention, and the Suns have spent recent practices trying to clean up the issues before they harden into a bigger problem. Through the first three games of the season, Phoenix has sat last in defensive rating and has allowed opponents to shoot the highest three-point percentage in the league, a troubling start for a team that knows it cannot afford to give away easy looks.
Jordan Ott and the players have made the focus clear: better effort, sharper communication and more physical play on that end of the floor. Dillon Brooks, Miles Bridges and Khaman Maluach have all acknowledged the need for improvement, and the timing matters with the Denver Nuggets up next, a matchup that will quickly show whether the Suns' defensive emphasis is starting to stick. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Have Reached A Devin Booker Debate Fans Dread
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It is the sort of debate Suns fans dread because it forces a hard look at where the franchise stands right now and what kind of reset might actually make sense. Booker remains the face of the team, but the broader question is whether Phoenix can keep building around him as constructed, or whether the pressure around the roster has reached a point where even a player of his stature gets dragged into trade speculation. For now, there is no official move or confirmation, just a conversation that says plenty about how far the Suns have fallen into uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]