After last season, the Phoenix Suns looked like a team with a lot of holes, an aging Kevin Durant, questions concerning how their top players fit with one another and a need for a new head coach after the Frank Vogel era went south rapidly. The Suns went 49-33 and got swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs. But Mat Ishbia, along with James Jones and Josh Bartelstein, slowly chipped away at those problems.
To lead the franchise forward, Phoenix hired Mike Budenholzer, who grew up in Holbrook, Arizona, as its new head coach. Budenholzer is a four-time NBA champion, having claimed three as an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs and another on his own as the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks — who he helped beat the Suns in the NBA Finals in 2020-21. He’s also a two-time Coach of the Year.
The Suns also did a nice job of adding proven commodities in free agency, signing Tyus Jones and Monte Morris to address the point guard position. That was something people were clamoring for all season long, as the Suns put a little too much play-making responsibility on Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, who have buttered their bread as scorers in this league. Phoenix was also tied for fifth in the NBA in turnover percentage (15.0%) last year. The Suns also brought in Mason Plumlee to be their backup center, a move that became necessary because of the unreliable play of Drew Eubanks.
Phoenix then went into the draft looking for athletes that can defend and impact games without needing the basketball. The Suns ended up leaving the night with Virginia forward Ryan Dunn, who they took with the 28th pick, and Marquette center Oso Ighodaro, who they selected with the 40th pick, which they acquired in a deal with the Denver Nuggets.
On paper, none of the decisions made over the summer looked all that big. There was some national praise for the signing of Jones, who many believed was looking at a big contract after averaging 12.0 points and 7.3 assists per game for the Washington Wizards last year. But nobody really thought the Suns were going to be back in the mix at the top of the Western Conference. That changed a little during the preseason.
Last year, only five teams shot fewer threes per game than Phoenix’s 32.6 attempts per night. That put the Suns at a massive mathematical disadvantage on a nightly basis, and shooting more triples was something Vogel said he wanted to do all year. It just never happened. But Budenholzer’s teams have always valued analytics, and he simply wasn’t going to coach a team that wouldn’t get with the times. And it was clear early on that he drilled his point home, as the Suns shot 44.0 threes per game in five preseason games. Last season, the Boston Celtics shot the most threes per game during the regular season, launching 42.5 per night.
Not only did the Suns start shooting more threes, but they also had a functioning offense. Because of the talent that guys like Booker, Beal and Durant possess, Phoenix was happy to let the three of them isolate last year. However, when those guys went to work, the other four players on the court were standing around. In preseason, players were moving, cutting to the basket and setting screens for one another. Budenholzer also got creative with the actions the Suns were running, even having the three stars operate as screeners for one another to try and set up mismatches.
The final thing that stood out in the preseason was that Dunn was ready to go. The Suns don’t have to wait. Dunn, who entered the draft with the reputation as an elite defender but a complete zero on offense, popped right away. He was locking his man up on defense, while also making his presence felt as an off-ball defender. However, he also knocked down 13 of his 30 three-point attempts, which was crazy considering he made a total of 12 threes over two years of college ball. The Suns badly needed an athletic wing that could defend and space the floor last year, and it was starting to look like they got one late in the first round.
Of course, preseason is preseason. Sometimes that stuff doesn’t translate to meaningful games. But four games into the 2024-25 NBA season, Phoenix looks legit. The Suns are 3-1 and have earned wins over the Dallas Mavericks and the much-improved Los Angeles Lakers. Phoenix is also sixth in the league in Dunks & Threes’ adjusted offensive rating (114.1) and seventh in the league in adjusted defensive rating (110.3). The Suns are also shooting 37.3 threes per game, which has them in the top half of the league.
It’s still very early in the season, but it appears Budenholzer’s changes are working. This looks like a more modern offense, and Durant is the one that is benefiting the most. He’s averaging 29.0 points per game on 65.1% true shooting, which is way up from last year’s 62.6%. And he’s one of the guys that has really looked great on the defensive end, where Budenholzer’s magic has been the most prevalent. Vogel actually did a decent job making last year’s team respectable in the regular season, and there weren’t a lot of people that thought an improvement on that end of the floor was possible with this core of players. But so far, the early returns are promising. These guys are competing their tails off, and having a feisty point-of-attack defender like Jones helps — as does the presence of a swiss-army knife like Royce O’Neale, who has always been a solid multi positional defender. But it also helps that Dunn’s preseason was no fluke.
Dunn is averaging 7.8 points per game and shooting 43.8% from deep. That might not be sustainable. But as long he’s making 33.0% or so, Phoenix can justify having him on the court. That’s because Dunn already looks like one of the best wing defenders in basketball. Sure, the 21-year-old fouls a little too often, but he has taken on a murderer’s row of wing assignments. In four games, Dunn has spent time covering James Harden, LeBron James and Luka Doncic. He passed all of those tests.
This Suns team just has a bit of everything now, as Jones is a great table-setter and pick-and-roll initiator, Booker and Beal are top-notch off-ball guards, and Durant is a perennial MVP candidate. They also have the youthful exuberance that Dunn brings off the bench. All of that is aided by the fact that there’s a system in place on both ends of the floor, and the vibes are much better around the organization.
If there’s any glaring issue with this Phoenix team, it’s the play of Jusuf Nurkic at center. Budenholzer wants Nurkic taking more threes, and he also is trying to get more out of him as a defender. Around Phoenix, this has been called the “Brookification” of Nurkic, as Budenholzer wants him to be more like Brook Lopez. So far, the threes aren’t dropping, Nurkic has been turnover-prone and he has also struggled defensively. But the Suns are armed with some tradeable contracts and can package that with an unprotected first-round pick to upgrade at center if the Nurkic experiment doesn’t work out.
However, things are mostly looking good for Phoenix right now, and there’s no reason this team can’t compete for homecourt advantage in the Western Conference. And if the Suns can swing the right deal at the trade deadline, they might even be able to contend for a championship. That’s progress for a team that has done nothing but regress since the loss in the NBA Finals four years ago.