The Suns are sitting at 1-2, a start that fits the challenge of their opening schedule. The Knicks, meanwhile, are 1-3 and have already become a source of frustration for fans. In the middle of that noise, Mikal Bridges has taken heat for both teams’ rough beginnings, but the bigger point lingers in Phoenix: he still looks like exactly the kind of player the Suns need, and the sting of sending him out in the 2023 Kevin Durant trade has not gone away.
Bridges would have fit neatly alongside Devin Booker, and the same goes for Dillon Brooks. Phoenix could use a wing defender with Bridges’ discipline, the kind of player who could have given the Suns a real answer on the perimeter instead of forcing Ryan Dunn into that role.
The roster also might have looked cleaner if Toumani Camara had not walked out the door. With Bridges in the mix, Brooks could slide to the four, Jalen Green would have more cover on defense, and the Suns would look stronger at both ends.
Instead, the franchise bet on Durant as the missing piece, and that idea never delivered the way Phoenix hoped.
There is also the money side of this that makes the picture complicated. Bridges is in the first year of a four-year, $150 million extension, and it is easy to understand why the Knicks might worry about carrying that deal as he enters his age-30 season and appears to be slipping a bit.
But that same timeline lines up with Booker, and Phoenix already has young players like Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming and Koa Peat in the pipeline. It would have been hard to make the contract work in Phoenix, but owner Mat Ishbia has shown he will pay whatever it takes if he thinks the move helps the team.
That willingness has already shown up in the Suns’ previous swings for Durant and Miles Bridges, both aimed at squeezing the most out of Booker. Some of the players moved in those deals have gone on to thrive elsewhere, but the front office has made its priorities clear. Mikal Bridges is still an ironman in his prime, and his game fits what Phoenix needs now more than it did when the deal was made.
If the Suns are looking for a path back to contention around Booker, Bridges would make sense in a way the Durant gamble never did. He already has a championship in hand, and Phoenix could use that kind of steady force around its star. At the very least, bringing him back would be a chance for Ishbia to reverse one of the franchise’s most painful decisions.
In Other News...
Suns Suddenly Have Real Trade Leverage With West Contender
Oklahoma Citys 4-0 start has done little to ease the strain of losing Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace for the long haul, and that reality has quietly created an opening for Phoenix. The Thunder have the kind of depth and ambition that usually keeps them in the market for help, and from the Suns point of view, that makes a couple of their rotation pieces suddenly look more valuable than they did a week ago.
Ryan Dunn and Jordan Goodwin fit the sort of profile a contender can talk itself into when injuries start to squeeze the margins, especially if Oklahoma City wants to patch specific holes without reshaping its core. For Phoenix, the bigger point is not that a deal is close, but that a team with clear needs and an obvious timeline has given the Suns real leverage if those conversations keep moving. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Are Already Wasting Devin Bookers Best Work
Through three games, the Suns have already leaned hard on Devin Bookers scoring to keep themselves afloat, and that has become its own early-season storyline in Phoenix. At 1-2, the bigger issue is not Bookers output, but how often the team seems to be asking him to cover for a roster and rotation that do not always make his job easier.
The criticism around the Suns has quickly turned toward roster construction and coaching choices, with outside voices pointing to recent trades and lineup tweaks that appear to have pulled them away from the formula that worked better last season. For a team built around Bookers prime years, the concern is obvious: if this is the way the opening stretch looks, it raises the question of whether Phoenix is making the most of its best player at the very moment it can least afford to waste him. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Are Feeling Oso Ighodaros Absence More Than Expected
Oso Ighodaros oblique injury has become more than a temporary lineup note for the Suns. The second-round pick has been out with no clear return date, and the effects have shown up in ways that go beyond the box score, with Phoenix losing some of the extra ball movement and defensive activity he helped provide. His value has been tied as much to organization and versatility as to any scoring output, which is part of why his absence has been noticeable.
What has stood out is how much the Suns leaned on Ighodaro as a connective piece on both ends. His absence has come with drops in assist and steal percentages, a sign that Phoenix has missed his ability to facilitate offense and switch defensively across different matchups. For a team that wants flexible, reliable minutes from every spot on the floor, replacing that kind of presence is not as simple as plugging in another body. [Read more 🡒]