Training camp is about to put three Suns on the spot, and each one is walking in with something different to prove.
For Jalen Green, the issue is bigger than just earning minutes. He’s already expected to be in the rotation and could open the season as a starter, but he’s also the player with the most to lose once camp gets going.
Green is still working his way back after an injury-plagued first season in Phoenix, and his fit next to Devin Booker has been a real question mark. That’s why it wouldn’t be a shock if the Suns decide to bring him off the bench instead.
The competition around him only makes that path tougher. Jordan Goodwin and Collin Gillespie are back on new deals, Jamaree Bouyea is still in the mix in The Valley, and Pat Spencer is hanging around as a two-way option. All of them are more traditional point guards than Green, which leaves the former second overall pick fighting an uphill battle for backcourt time.
Bouyea’s situation is different, but no less tense. He’s trying to hold onto a bench backcourt role while also trying to secure his future in Phoenix. The addition of Duop Reath as a training camp invitee adds another layer of pressure, because one of Bouyea or Haywood Highsmith will likely have to go if the Suns want to sign Reath outright.
That makes the numbers game pretty clear. Phoenix needs another big after Mark Williams’ injury, and right now the frontcourt depth chart is thin, with only Khaman Maluach and Oso Ighodaro on it. With so many guards already in the picture, Bouyea is very much in the danger zone.
Still, he has a path to stick if camp goes his way. Highsmith is the more injury-prone of the two, and Bouyea showed last time out that he can defend multiple positions. Nothing is guaranteed for him, but he’ll at least get the chance to make a case.
Then there’s Ryan Dunn, who found himself with an unexpected opening after Williams needed shoulder surgery. That injury created a new need in the frontcourt, and Dunn suddenly has a chance to answer it as a meaningful defender.
The problem is the shot. Dunn still can’t hit consistently, even if there were frustratingly brief stretches when his 3-point touch looked clean and fell at a solid rate.
If he can catch fire in camp, switch across different scorers, and handle the dirty work around some starters, he could keep his place on the second unit. If not, he may be the next one shown the door.
In Other News...
Devin Booker Trade Talk Says Everything About The Suns Right Now
Devin Booker trade chatter tends to say as much about the Suns present situation as it does about Bookers future, and this latest round is no exception. Yossi Gozlan floated the Clippers as a possible destination down the line, pointing to their need for an older star and the kind of win-now profile that Booker would obviously fit if the conversation ever got serious.
For Phoenix, though, the more important reality is that the noise does not line up with the teams stance or its leverage. Bookers contract is a difficult one to move in the abstract, but the Suns have no real incentive to engage unless a deal truly changes their outlook, and the Clippers do not appear to have the kind of package that would push Phoenix in that direction. So while Bookers name will keep surfacing whenever star-hunting teams come up, this particular rumor feels more like a reminder of how central he remains to the franchise than a sign that anything is close. [Read more 🡒]
Devin Booker Just Got A Reminder Of How The League Sees Him
Devin Bookers place in the leagues pecking order got a small but noticeable nudge this preseason, with ESPN slotting the Suns guard 20th in its player rankings. It is the kind of reminder that can feel louder than the move itself, especially for a player who has long been judged not just on scoring, but on how he carries a team that now leans on him more heavily than it did a year ago.
Bookers profile last season came with more on his plate after the exits of Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Chris Paul, and ESPNs evaluation folded in both his changing responsibilities and the dip in his efficiency. There is still the familiar sense of Booker as the Suns benchmark star, but the ranking conversation also reflects the reality that the league is weighing production, context and projection all at once, leaving his standing as much a talking point as a verdict. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Have A Collin Gillespie Question That Could Reshape The Backcourt
Collin Gillespies place in the Suns backcourt has become one of those rotation questions that can quietly shape a season. After spending last year as a starting guard for much of the way, he is now back in a reserve role, first off the bench behind Devin Booker and Jalen Green, and the shift says as much about the roster around him as it does about Gillespie himself. For Phoenix, the issue is not simply whether he can help, but whether his best value comes as a stabilizing second-unit piece or as someone who can handle a larger role when the lineup gets tight.
There is reason for the Suns to keep revisiting it. Gillespies starts last season were useful enough to keep him in the conversation, but they also came in a stretch when the teams guard picture was constantly changing and necessity played a big part in his workload. With Green now in the starting group, Phoenix has a different look at the position, yet the comparison only sharpens the question of whether Gillespies earlier run was a glimpse of a bigger role to come or simply the product of a team patching holes as best it could. [Read more 🡒]