The Suns’ rough start has already pushed one obvious need to the front of the conversation: they need another playmaker.
That idea is driving the latest buzz around Phoenix, where the roster’s lack of a true point guard has become hard to ignore. Devin Booker can handle the ball and create, but the case being made here is simple - he needs a second creator next to him so he can keep scoring and work more comfortably off the ball. It’s the kind of balance that made other teams tick when they paired a top scorer with a legitimate initiator.
That’s why Dejounte Murray has emerged as the name to watch. Murray, who built his reputation with a defensive identity in San Antonio before moving on to Atlanta and now New Orleans, is viewed as a potential fit for what Phoenix is missing.
His stock has fallen after a backcourt that didn’t click in Atlanta, plus injuries and a messy front office situation in New Orleans. From that angle, the timing makes sense for the Suns if they want to act while his value is depressed.
The cleanest framework would be a one-for-one swap with Jalen Green. In that setup, Phoenix would get the kind of guard who can organize an offense and defend within the system, while New Orleans would add a younger scoring option with room to grow.
Green’s age gap with Murray raises the obvious question of whether Phoenix would be moving on too soon, but the argument here is that the contract situation changes the calculation. With an extension on the horizon, the Suns could use this as a way to avoid a tougher financial decision later.
There’s also a money angle to it. Green makes a little more than Murray, which would save Phoenix $6 million in next year’s deal.
Both players also have a $30 million player option, so the team taking them on is dealing with that reality either way. The difference, in this view, is that Murray’s next contract could be shaped more favorably for the Suns than Green’s, since Green would be pushing to maximize his next payday.
From New Orleans’ side, Green makes sense as a young talent for a team still sorting out who it really is. He has spent his basketball life as the featured scorer, and the piece argues that trying to turn him into something else has never been the right lane. The comparison made is to the kind of miscast role that can go sideways fast, and the point is that Green should be allowed to be what he has always been: an on-ball scorer with the green light.
The idea, then, is that both sides could get what they need. Phoenix gets a secondary creator who can help Booker and fit alongside him. New Orleans gets a scoring guard with upside and more flexibility in its backcourt, especially with Jeremiah Fears there to develop further if Jordan Poole can be moved elsewhere.
Murray isn’t the only name out there, either. Other guards mentioned as possible Suns targets include Kyrie Irving, Jrue Holiday, and Darius Garland, along with players Phoenix has already missed on such as Ja Morant, LaMelo Ball, and Trae Young. So while Murray stands out as a realistic option, the larger point is that the Suns’ need for another playmaker is already loud - and the front office may have to decide soon whether a starting lineup change, such as Collin Gillespie taking over and Green going to the bench, is just a temporary fix or the first step toward something bigger.
For now, the trade deadline looms as the place where Phoenix may have to answer that question.
In Other News...
Suns Offensive Problem Is Turning Into A Bigger Roster Concern
Chris Haynes report put a sharper edge on something the Suns have been trying to manage all season: the offense has had to run through a committee, with multiple players sharing playmaking duties instead of one steady hand organizing possessions. That setup has come with drawbacks, including lower assist numbers and a more difficult time generating clean offense, and it has apparently started to wear on some players inside the locker room.
Phoenix is now weighing what it can do from within, while also leaving open the possibility of chasing a point guard if the right option emerges. For a team trying to stabilize its attack, the issue is no longer just about scheme or rhythm, it is becoming a roster question, and one the Suns have not yet publicly answered. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Still Havent Solved The Devin Booker Problem They Created
The Suns are still living with the ripple effects of the 2023 trade that sent Mikal Bridges to the Knicks for Kevin Durant, a move that changed the shape of the roster but did not necessarily make things easier around Devin Booker. Phoenix made the swing for star power, but the broader question has lingered ever since: whether Bridges would have been a cleaner fit next to Booker, and whether the Suns gave up a player whose two-way value would have helped balance the roster in a different way.
Bridges remains under contract with New York, while Phoenix keeps searching for the right formula to maximize Booker and re-open a real title window. That is the challenge now for a team that has already spent significant capital on trying to speed up contention, only to find itself still sorting through the fallout of its biggest decisions. The Suns do not just need talent. They need the kind of structure that makes Booker easier to build around, and that part has yet to be solved. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Already Facing A Bigger Concern Than Their 1-2 Start
A 1-2 start is hardly a crisis in late October, but the Suns already have a more pressing issue than wins and losses: the way their offense is coming together. With no traditional point guard on the roster to steady the flow, Devin Booker has taken on more of the play-making load, and that has come with tradeoffs. Phoenix has looked less organized than a contender usually wants to be at this stage, and the early numbers reflect it.
Collin Gillespie is the closest thing the Suns have to a true lead guard, but he is not part of the regular starting mix, leaving the team to piece together the job by committee. The result has been a group that sits in the bottom half of the league in assists and owns the worst rebounding rate so far this season, two signs that the issues run beyond simple shot making. For a team with bigger ambitions, the concern is not just getting Booker more scoring chances. It is finding a structure that lets everyone else fit around him. [Read more 🡒]