ESPN’s latest top-100 NBA list did more than rank players ahead of the 2026-27 season. It put Phoenix’s problem in plain view.
Devin Booker is there at No. 20, and Dillon Brooks showed up at No. 76, but that was it for the Suns. No deeper wave of high-end help.
No second star ready to tilt the league. Just a roster picture that makes the same point over and over: Phoenix is trying to build contention around Booker without nearly enough elite talent around him.
That’s the hard reality the Suns keep running into. The franchise has kept cycling names in and out next to Booker ever since Chris Paul was on the roster, but all that movement has pushed them farther from true title territory, not closer to it. The swings have been aggressive, especially when they went after Kevin Durant, but the roster now sits near the second apron, with no clear path to meaningful improvement and no other top-50 player to pair with Booker.
Miles Bridges was supposed to help, but the move looks like a sideways step from a talent standpoint. He didn’t make the list at all, and Phoenix paid a steep price to get him: a 2033 unprotected first-round pick. For context, Minnesota used an unprotected first to get LaMelo Ball, who landed 35th on ESPN’s list.
Jalen Green also missed the cut, more than a year after being billed as the best player the Suns received from the Houston Rockets in the Durant trade. Brooks helped soften that blow. He has been the kind of co-star that works in the regular season, especially because of what he gives you on both ends.
But there’s a ceiling there. Brooks is still a couple of levels below the real difference-makers in the league, and Booker himself may be a step below the true superstars. That’s the uncomfortable part of this whole conversation, and it’s one the Suns have already had to confront.
The one path forward is internal growth. If Khaman Maluach and Rasheer Fleming start climbing future editions of the list, the tone changes fast.
Maluach is just 20, and he has the raw tools to become a dominant center. Phoenix has also done well with several draft picks in recent years, which leaves at least one sliver of hope.
For now, though, that’s all Booker has to cling to. ESPN’s rankings didn’t just leave the Suns short on star power - they made clear why the current setup doesn’t look like a championship formula.
In Other News...
Suns Added Five New Faces But One Could Change Everything
The Suns have spent the offseason reshaping the edges of their roster, bringing in five new faces for the 2026-27 season as they try to deepen the group around their core. Spencer, Reath, Peat, Kennard and Bridges each arrive with a different selling point, whether it is shooting, size, versatility or the kind of steady role work that can matter once training camp starts sorting out who fits where.
The mix gives Phoenix options, but it also creates a real competition for minutes as the staff sorts out how all of these pieces should fit. Some of the newcomers look better positioned than others to claim a regular place in the rotation, and one addition in particular has a chance to alter the teams structure more than the rest once the season gets going. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Media Day Puts 3 Very Different Storylines Under Pressure
Mondays Suns media day arrives with a few of the usual preseason talking points, but this one carries a little extra weight because of who is expected to step to the podium. Dillon Brooks is coming in after signing a three-year extension, which gives Phoenix at least one clear piece of continuity heading into camp. On the other side of the room, Jalen Green will be one of the more closely watched players after working back from a hamstring injury, and rookie Koa Peat will be trying to carve out his place in a roster that has already changed around him.
Greens situation is especially interesting because the Suns still need to figure out how he fits when the season gets rolling, and media day should offer the first real clues about where he stands. Peat brings a different kind of pressure as a first-year player who was selected 30th overall and now has to show he can handle the adjustment. With roster spots, roles and rotations all in flux, the answers Phoenix gets on Monday could matter well beyond the first day of camp. [Read more 🡒]
Devin Bookers Offseason Flex Has Suns Fans Arguing About Star Money
Devin Booker turned an offseason flex into a fresh topic of conversation around Phoenix, giving a content creator a private tour of his car collection and showing off a garage that has clearly become part passion project, part personal brand. The collection is heavy on Chevrolet models and other cars with meaning to Booker, and it comes with a matching sneaker element that has made the whole display feel very much like an extension of his style rather than just a pile of expensive toys.
Still, the part that sent Suns fans into debate was not the cars themselves, but the price tag attached to them, with skepticism bubbling up quickly on social media. Booker has already locked in his future in Phoenix with the two-year, $145 million extension he signed last summer, so the larger conversation is not about whether he can afford the hobby - it is about what it says when one of the leagues biggest earners starts talking about a collection that is tied as much to memory and identity as it is to money. [Read more 🡒]