
The Phoenix Suns are heading into the offseason with some room for growth after exceeding preseason expectations with a 45-37 record and then getting swept in the first round by the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
The rest of the NBA took notice to the new gritty style of basketball Phoenix played with, so the Suns won't be sneaking up on anyone next season.
This offseason will prove exactly how competitive the Suns want to be in the 2026-27 season.
Here are the three biggest questions for the Suns in the coming months:
When the Suns were fully healthy, their rotation consisted of seven players 6-foot-6 or shorter next to their two centers in Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro.
Although the Suns played physical all year, this rotation led to some glaring problems against teams with more size who could just overpower Phoenix.
The fact of the matter is those seven players all rightfully earned their spot in the rotation, but Phoenix should look to make some changes in this area this offseason after ranking 29th in the NBA in defensive rebounding.
The most likely avenue for this will be via trade, as the Suns should really only target forwards and/or centers on the trade market while prioritizing bringing back their own free agents in Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin, who will round out the guard rotation.
Small ball worked for the Suns the majority of the year, but they struggled with it to close the season once mostly everyone got back healthy, so the size problem needs to be addressed.
The Suns also have rookies Khaman Maluach and Rasheer Fleming waiting in the weeds to help out in this area, which is a huge positive.
The Suns had several players have breakout seasons this year, so the question becomes who do you want to bring back and who do you trade away to capitalize on their value.
Dillon Brooks, Grayson Allen, Gillespie, Royce O'Neale, Goodwin and Jamaree Bouyea all averaged career highs in points, while Williams played a career high in games, although his injury problems came back to close the season.
It seems likely that Gillespie, Goodwin and potentially even Bouyea will be re-signed, but the Suns should listen to offers to figure out the value of Brooks, Allen, O'Neale and Williams if it will net them a younger player(s), draft picks or more size.
Allen, O'Neale and Williams seem like the three most likely trade candidates heading into the offseason, so we will see if the Suns do end up trading them or prioritize continuity, which they stressed in their end-of-season press conference yesterday.
The Suns' first-round sweep showed just how far they have to go to become a contender like OKC.
Marginal moves likely won't thrust them into this upper echelon, and time is ticking for the Suns' championship window around Devin Booker, who will be 30 in October.
Booker shared what his perspective is on how the Suns can build on this surprise season after the sweep.
"I think Jalen (Green) missed 50 games. I missed 20. Dillon missed 20. And people had us projected at 28-29 wins on the season, and (we) ended with 45 and I still feel like we dropped five to 10," Booker said. "So going into next season with the same core, we have a better understanding that those games in October, November, December, actually matter, and they matter a lot going into seating later in the season. So it was a good building block season for us."
Based on everything the Suns have said, don't expect them to make a drastic move, but if they did, Green and/or Brooks would be the most likely trade candidates.
It seems necessary to add size, as pointed out before, but the Suns will also hope for better health next year to see exactly how their team stacks up in the West.
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