New Season Tour of the Suns: The Big Three disintegrated into the Young Storm, with Booker leading the team during the rebuilding period

The Phoenix Suns were 36-46 last year. After a losing season, they restructured their lineup this season, fired head coach Mike Budenholzer, and sent 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant to the Rockets. It also bought out the contract of three-time All-Star Bradley Beal. This trio, which once seemed luxurious, has been declared a failure.

Preview of the new season

New coaches: The Suns have been firing coaches in recent years, including Vogel, Monty Williams, and Budenholzer. Now this new young team is coached by a young coach Jordan Ott. He served as an assistant coach on the Cavaliers coaching staff last season and helped the Cavaliers achieve a very good regular season record. He is good at using data analysis to improve both offense and defense, and attaches great importance to teamwork.

Interestingly, Suns owner Matt Ishbia played for the Michigan State University basketball team as a training team member from 1999 to 2003, and Ott was the video coordinator at the time.

Offseason trade: This summer, the Suns sent 37-year-old superstar Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets in exchange for 23-year-old shooting guard Jaylen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the 2025 first round, and five second-round picks.

Jalen Green is the core figure in the transaction. Last season with the Rockets, he averaged 21.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, which is not bad in terms of pure statistics, but considering that both Green and Booker are the same type of players, they usually focus on finishing.

When Green played as a point guard, his assists per 100 possessions rose to 6.8, his real plus-minus was 2.1, and his pick-and-roll passing success rate was 72%. Last season, he committed 2.8 turnovers every 36 minutes. His dribbling error rate under high-pressure defense exceeded 82% of the league's point guards.

Whether Green or Booker should be the point guard is a big problem facing the new coach.

There is also a big defensive hero: Dillon Brooks. Last season, his defensive efficiency was third in the league, allowing his opponents' three-point shooting percentage to drop by 4.1%. His defense can help the Suns' forward line improve to a higher level, and his defensive leadership can cultivate the team's defensive temperament. When many people mentioned that the Suns will be a bad team next season, he said: "I think Phoenix has re-reinforced it. You know, this is not really a rebuilding season. We are aiming to win. In our hearts, we want to enter the playoffs."

Rookie: They selected center Maluachi with the 10th pick, forward Fleming with the 31st pick, and pitcher Brea with the 41st pick.

Maluachi: Played in the professional league in South Sudan for three years and joined Duke University in the 2024-25 season. In his only season in the NCAA, Maluachi averaged 21.3 minutes per game, contributing 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. As the 10th overall pick, although his offensive ability is not sufficient, his defensive experience still needs to be improved. But at only 19 years old, there are endless possibilities in the future.

Fleming (3D type player): He comes from St. Joseph's University, averaging 14.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.4 steals per game, shooting 53.1% from the field, 39% from three-point range, and 74.3% from free throws. He is good at spot-up shooting, is also dynamic on the defensive end, and is good at blocking shots and rebounding. .

Brea (three-point shooter): From the University of Kentucky, he averaged 28.1 minutes per game, averaging 11.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.3 blocks. He shot 47% from the field and 43.5% from the three-point range.

Booker: ‌He reached a two-year, $145 million early contract extension agreement with the Suns. The new contract will cover the 2029-30 season. There are three years left on the current contract, and the total salary will reach US$316 million over five years. For him, this is another rebuilding cycle, and the team has assigned him many point guards in the past ten years. Perhaps this season he needs to take on more organizational tasks. This is a new challenge for him so far in his career. It can be seen that he has already made changes in the preseason, and has more bonuses for the team's offense. But the difficulty of the regular season and playoffs is self-evident. Whether he can maintain his scoring skills while also developing organizational and passing skills has become a highlight.

Conclusion: There have been huge adjustments in the offseason, including a change of coach, a change of core, and a change of play style. Maybe Suns fans will have to go through another trough period. For this season, the goal is to first focus on how to hit the playoffs, slowly lay a solid foundation, cultivate rookies, and then hit the finals. Although the decline in immediate combat strength and lack of playoff experience will make the team's record poor, the growth of young players and the flexibility of draft picks (the first round in 2026 is in the hands of the Wizards) retain hope for the future.