2025-26 Season News & Discussion

[Ghost of Kleine]

Any word on Greens re-injured hamstring?

Duane Rankin:

Suns haven't released an official injury update on Green, but he's expected to miss multiple games with injury.

Agreeing with Sunsbum on 4-6 weeks, but more likely two full months just to be safe! We'll see Green back in February possibly.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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The Suns need to be finding time for this kid to play and develop with the team in Green's absence. Especially if he's going to lowkey be Booker's eventual heir apparent someday possibly?

Regardless of defensive concerns, we still need more offense. And he definitely possesses the skillset that addresses that production gap missing with Green out.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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Obviously not going to get close to this value their seeking. Especially not with it being common knowledge of their internal divide.

I'd still very much like to be a 3rd team facilitator for whatever team trades for him and could use any combination of Allen, O'neale, Richards and/or Ighodaro.

I really think Dallas or Brooklyn could be prime candidates for this consideration. Maybe even add Houston to the deal somehow with Dallas getting Van Vleet as a stopgap (Kyrie option) and we get miscellaneous pieces from the other involved teams.

4 team trade with:
Memphis- Allen or O'neale??
Houston- Morant, Klay??
Dallas- Van Vleet, Richards??
Phoenix- players and light picks???

[ChuckS]

I'm seriously curious what do you think IS the context of their current situation?

This tweet you're referencing is from 4 years ago, where the 2021-2022 Wizards went 25-44 the rest of the way to finish the season 35-47 or 12th in the East. The prior season that team won 34 games, so you're talking about a 1 game improvement. Like Brad Beal is still front and center of that tweet. I'm not sure if you're confused thinking this tweet is from the actual 2025 because the current 2025-2026 Wizards are equal dead last not just in the East but in the whole NBA at 1-8. So your very serious argument is a team that won 18 games last season, doesn't even have an established semi-star (Poole/Kuz were their best players and both are gone now unless you consider a cooked CJ/Khris a semi-star), has virtually no record of recruiting real stars (maybe old MJ in the 2000s?), an unproven GM, a HC that has won a grand total of 26 games....across two seasons is the team KD would've bet his last few seasons on because he has some connection to DC?

And if you want to play the thought experiment that early success with a KD means a damn thing, let me remind you again that we started last season with KD with an 8-1 record and vibes were great and we finished the season with 36 wins. This is on a team with prime DBook, a championship level HC and a solid supporting cast.

I totally agree with your insistence that KD would have never chosen to go the Washington at this stage (or probably any) of his career. My only disagreement is with your last paragraph. I think Ishbia significantly shortened any rebuild with the trade of Durant, getting two good starters and a potential future third with the 10th pick. But most of all by getting Williams if he can stay reasonably healthy. This was done because KD was the only one worth anything major except for Book, whose trade would have defeated the intent to get younger.

Yes we started the season well with Durant and ended with only 36 wins. But KD was least responsible for that ineptitude. He was the only all-star on the team, had the highest scoring average, 26.6 and 7th in the league, with the best efficiency of any non-center on the team. He was fourth in rebounding behind three of the centers, and third in assists behind only Book and Jones.

I could have misunderstood but I thought you made a team with an offensive rating 18th in the league and a defensive rating 28th and 22d in points allowed sound so good. I have no complaint about a prime DBook. But our championship coach was ultimately fired while still owed $40 Mil. He was previously fired by the Bucks still owed $16 mil. These organizations must have seen something. But my major disagreement is with the claim of a "solid supporting cast". After the Durant trade the team replaced twelve of our players, IMO for good cause. At this stage of the season that, more than even the very good Durant replacements (who have had injuries) seems to have excited most of those still posting.

I apologize for nit-picking two sentences.

[KdoubleDees23]

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Obviously not going to get close to this value their seeking. Especially not with it being common knowledge of their internal divide.

I'd still very much like to be a 3rd team facilitator for whatever team trades for him and could use any combination of Allen, O'neale, Richards and/or Ighodaro.

I really think Dallas or Brooklyn could be prime candidates for this consideration. Maybe even add Houston to the deal somehow with Dallas getting Van Vleet as a stopgap (Kyrie option) and we get miscellaneous pieces from the other involved teams.

4 team trade with:
Memphis- Allen or O'neale??
Houston- Morant, Klay??
Dallas- Van Vleet, Richards??
Phoenix- players and light picks???

Dude we aren't getting involved with this crap.

Suns need to find the next Josh Giddey. He would be the perfect fit with out team. Keep the core of Booker, Green, Brooks, and Williams (hope he can stay healthy). We need to give Maluach reps and time playing, same with fleming. If we aren't using them, send them to G league

[lilfishi22]

Gotta say nine games in and this is a huge improvement over last year. I quit watching last season because Durant was so apathetic and it carried over to the rest of the team. Suns can almost always have three to four legit three point threats on the floor all time between Book, Green, Allen, O'Neale, and Gillispie. If Brooks and Goodwin can revert to last seasons form I don't know how teams will cope. Lots of room for the guards to attack the basket and get easy lobs to the bigs. Thank goodness they picked up Williams on draft day.

Disappointed so far in Oso and Nigel. Weak link is depth at the power forward position. Oso and Nigel are not cutting it.

We were like 8-1 after 9 games last year and praising Bud all over these boards. I’m very careful before I say things are better. Still lots of bad and there is a lot of good.

Bads: Oso has to go! He’s not an NBA player. Oso is the new Shamet. Ott wants Oso to date his daughter is the only explanation why he’s getting playing time. Hayes-Davis probably gonna have to go back overseas, had hopes but he’s was a low risk signing that didn’t pan out. Rookies aren’t getting time is criminal with this team (a rookie who can’t get off the bench in a good team is a very different story than a rookie who can’t get off the bench with a bad team). Offense is three or bust which concerns me.

Some goods, Green’s first game was really exciting, Booker is shutting up his doubters (me) so far. We are hitting a lot of threes. Mark Williams hasn’t gotten hurt yet. Brooks is a dog this team needed (unfortunately he’s hurt).

Long story short, I will wait till midseason before I give this team a grade.

There is a difference though. We had one double digit victory in those 8 wins last season. The rest were Booker/KD pulling us through in the clutch which really isn't/wasn't sustainable and that proved itself. And in some ways, it's a bit of a carryover from the previous season where we just couldn't win in the 4th quarter. It's a small sample size but we're 12th in the league in 4th quarter net rating with a +3. Last season, during that 8-1 run, we were 16th with a +0.4 net rating. We EKED out wins off the back of some heroics from our starters.

I don't necessarily expect us to stay in the top 10 in both categories for the rest of the season but having young legs and a better offensive system is making a difference already. So I'm not saying THIS is a more talented group than last season because it's not but it is a fundamentally different team.

[lilfishi22]

The context of their current situation is that they have a solid core of exciting young players who are flanked by established vets and they also have significant cap space and a plethora of draft assets with which to actually upgrade their roster if they chose to,

Like in a scenario wherein they would approach KD and sell him on these factors, along with playing as the franchise centerpiece star alongside of McCollum, Coulilaby, Middleton and Sarr.

And with those assets, cap space, etc they could have significant flexibility to dramatically upgrade their roster around KD and be a legitimate playoff team in a much weaker and more wide open Eastern conference as a selling point for his consideration.

While He could finish his career as a hometown hero around his family and friends as that is actually a factor to some stars in sports. And good catch by the way on the timestamp invalidating the current premise somewhat.

Although I'd still argue that (currently) absent their obvious intention to tank for a loaded draft class, in the hypothetical premise of courting a player of KDs' established caliber, if added to their team, those intentions and competitive trajectory goals would change significantly.

And I'm not sure you could tell me that this Wizards current roster (downplaying situation or not) with KD added and the assets/ cap space they have for moves, wouldn't legitimately make the playoffs in a much weaker eastern conference.

I mean thanks for sharing those stats on their losing seasons ( by comparison to the western conference standards) but first off, we all know that in their current situation, they're intentionally tanking and not overtly concerned about winning.

But even aside from that consideration, consider for a moment the actual records of those eastern conference teams that still snuck into the playoffs in the Eastern conference as seeds in the 7-9 ranges. How many of them actually had winning records?

Obviously, the Eastern conference would be a cakewalk for a team with KD to make the playoffs under most conditions barring absolute calamity. So I'm unsure of the relevance of your stats that you've shared for this hypothetical thought experiment that's predicated upon the premise of this Wizards lineup WITH KD added.

Can you honestly tell me 8 better teams that would jump a lineup ( even absent post KD upgrades) of McCollum/ Coulibaly/ Middleton/ KD / Sarr plus depth pieces in the Eastern conference preventing them from being a playoff team?

You see the thought experiment we argued over was predicated upon the premise of what Washingtons' situation could be as a selling point in a potential pursuit of KD.

Now sure as Dremille so excitedly pointed out, I mistakenly shared a post from 2021 that was only recently shared yesterday on X. Sure! My bad, but regardless of that error, the argument is still a hypothetical premise that cannot be legitimately proven beyond subjective speculation.

But under the hypothetical conditions I've offered still remains absolutely plausible, Overall, each teams situations are highly individualized and subjective to a wide range of outcomes.


So a team can start off hot and finish poorly just the same as a team can start slow, add a key piece or star and make a run and surprise with unexpected outcomes too. By the way, how'd our situation with an established D Book, coach Bud, and a solid supporting cast work out for us again?? Each situation is and can be uniquely different man.

KD is not carrying a rebuilding team to relevance, even in the East. A KD/Book-led team last season, that won 49 games the previous season, was the 11th worst team in the West, which would've also been the 11th worst team in the East. Literally wherever KD has gone in his career, he's either brought elite talent with him to play with (Kyrie/Harden) or he's joining a team that's already competitive (GSW/Phoenix). And he was able to do that at 28, 31 and 34 years of age, he's not doing it in year 17 at 37 nor does he carry the weight as a franchise-changing centrepiece either. Houston is the perfect situation for him because he's joining a team that won 52 games (2nd in the conference) that has proven they can play together and under a coach most consider to be elite.

Again we're talking about a completely unproven coach, unproven front office, a franchise with no track record of attracting stars and his "co-stars" are a cooked CJ, Khris and some very young players? That's the team you seriously think KD would hitch his old wagon to for his final few seasons? If so, then you're just arguing just for argument sake, because that isn't a serious proposal

Simply put, KD being added to their team changes their plans, calculus and competitive trajectory man. Now of course your right that ye alone by himself wouldn't carry them to much better outcomes.

But basketball is a team sport and as a team it could be accomplished. The mechanisms for dramatic roster upgrades/ improvements I've already shared as part of the KD pursuit plan. Now obviously they wouldn't sell KD on playing their and just stand pat!

They'd likely make moves with his approval/ input to upgrade their roster around him. And unlike us, they'd have the assets and cap space to do it. Sure, you make great points around an unproven front office, coach, etc. But they obviously were clever enough to completely grift our front office on Beal and multiple picks for years!

Also we're talking about a much easier eastern conference that'd be wide open for most any competitive team to make the playoffs as opposed to the bloodbath that's the western conference.


Just an easier pathway, especially when considering the multiple factors around the majority of teams in the east, and the fact that you actually can have teams with losing records ( below .500) sneaking into the playoffs as the bulls and Hawks did last year in 24.

It's just a much easier proposition honestly man. And that's the primary selling point for them in a KD pursuit. The idea that it's not a serious proposal is subjective opinion when all factors are legitimately considered man.

Player's are unpredictable. And even absent players personal interests, you also have front offices that can make decisions that are considered surprising or unexpected. KD for all his greatness and notoriety may just not carry the same level of clout as he once had, and is under contract in this premise.

Under contract can obviously be moved without consent. Unless they're Bradley Beal of course.........lol. Did our very own front office not try to trade him without consent??

Yes adding a KD to any team would change the team. That's plainly obvious. It's not a matter of adding KD, it's a matter of how different that team could actually be and my contention is not very much for all the reasons I already provided.

If you really want to play out the scenario you're proposing instead of just throwing words out, then I challenge you to build a realistic Wizards team based on their roster and cap space last season. Show me the team you build that you think is going to be a problem in the East.

[Puff]

Can we please just enjoy our current team and hope for a healthy return of Jay Green. I want no part of Morant.

This is not the off season, and I could care less about what KD did or did not do.

We can hope for Maluach and Fleming to get minutes or go to the G league. Of course, practicing and hanging out with our starters is not necessarily a bad thing. Who do you suggest that Ott benches. Of course, Oso tops the list at this point, but I think he does a lot of things that Ott likes.

[lilfishi22]

I'm seriously curious what do you think IS the context of their current situation?

This tweet you're referencing is from 4 years ago, where the 2021-2022 Wizards went 25-44 the rest of the way to finish the season 35-47 or 12th in the East. The prior season that team won 34 games, so you're talking about a 1 game improvement. Like Brad Beal is still front and center of that tweet. I'm not sure if you're confused thinking this tweet is from the actual 2025 because the current 2025-2026 Wizards are equal dead last not just in the East but in the whole NBA at 1-8. So your very serious argument is a team that won 18 games last season, doesn't even have an established semi-star (Poole/Kuz were their best players and both are gone now unless you consider a cooked CJ/Khris a semi-star), has virtually no record of recruiting real stars (maybe old MJ in the 2000s?), an unproven GM, a HC that has won a grand total of 26 games....across two seasons is the team KD would've bet his last few seasons on because he has some connection to DC?

And if you want to play the thought experiment that early success with a KD means a damn thing, let me remind you again that we started last season with KD with an 8-1 record and vibes were great and we finished the season with 36 wins. This is on a team with prime DBook, a championship level HC and a solid supporting cast.

I totally agree with your insistence that KD would have never chosen to go the Washington at this stage (or probably any) of his career. My only disagreement is with your last paragraph. I think Ishbia significantly shortened any rebuild with the trade of Durant, getting two good starters and a potential future third with the 10th pick. But most of all by getting Williams if he can stay reasonably healthy. This was done because KD was the only one worth anything major except for Book, whose trade would have defeated the intent to get younger.

Yes we started the season well with Durant and ended with only 36 wins. But KD was least responsible for that ineptitude. He was the only all-star on the team, had the highest scoring average, 26.6 and 7th in the league, with the best efficiency of any non-center on the team. He was fourth in rebounding behind three of the centers, and third in assists behind only Book and Jones.

I could have misunderstood but I thought you made a team with an offensive rating 18th in the league and a defensive rating 28th and 22d in points allowed sound so good. I have no complaint about a prime DBook. But our championship coach was ultimately fired while still owed $40 Mil. He was previously fired by the Bucks still owed $16 mil. These organizations must have seen something. But my major disagreement is with the claim of a "solid supporting cast". After the Durant trade the team replaced twelve of our players, IMO for good cause. At this stage of the season that, more than even the very good Durant replacements (who have had injuries) seems to have excited most of those still posting.

I apologize for nit-picking two sentences.

You did misunderstand my point. I wasn't suggesting we were a better team last season because we went 8-1 to start the season. On the contrary, my point is that going 8-1 both wasn't sustainable and having early success with an old KD and a prime Book didn't lead to greater things down the line. So I was using last season's Suns team as the case study for the idea of just adding an old KD to a Wizard's team, even a decently revamped one isn't likely to greatly improve that team.

[Puff]

Can we please just enjoy our current team and hope for a healthy return of Jay Green. I want no part of Morant.

This is not the off season, and I could care less about what KD did or did not do.

We can hope for Maluach and Fleming to get minutes or go to the G league. Of course, practicing and hanging out with our starters is not necessarily a bad thing. Who do you suggest that Ott benches. Of course, Oso tops the list at this point, but I think he does a lot of things that Ott likes.

[lilfishi22]

Can we please just enjoy our current team and hope for a healthy return of Jay Green. I want no part of Morant.

This is not the off season, and I could care less about what KD did or did not do.

We can hope for Maluach and Fleming to get minutes or go to the G league. Of course, practicing and hanging out with our starters is not necessarily a bad thing. Who do you suggest that Ott benches. Of course, Oso tops the list at this point, but I think he does a lot of things that Ott likes.

Yeah I'm not a big Green fan but I can't even call myself a Morant fan.

I'm not too worried about KM or Fleming not getting consistent minutes at this stage. Realistically, Williams is likely to miss some games so there will be opportunity for them to play real minutes. Listening to the Timeline Podcast, the fellas mentioned those guys aren't playing likely because they are making mistakes in practice that the coaching staff can't live with in real games at this stage; either bad decision making or as they posited, bad turnovers.

Given the nice adjustments I'm already seeing from Ott and the coaching staff, our surprising start to the season, I'm more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt to decide the best rotations they see fit. Oso has been given plenty of opportunities and after B2B poor performances in the Warriors and the Clippers game, he was relegated to 4mins in the 1st quarter of the last Clippers win and never came back. That's the adjustment I like to see.

[lilfishi22]

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The Suns need to be finding time for this kid to play and develop with the team in Green's absence. Especially if he's going to lowkey be Booker's eventual heir apparent someday possibly?

Regardless of defensive concerns, we still need more offense. And he definitely possesses the skillset that addresses that production gap missing with Green out.

Brea took 25 shots to get 26 points. Was 5 for 17 from deep. Let's calm down for a second

https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Koby-Brea/GameLogs/157545

[mkot]

The deepest bench in the league got outscored by one Vit Krejci off the bench. And they now lost 5 straight. Should be 6 straight if Kawhi's buzzer beater didn't count because he traveled

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?s=20

[Saberestar]

Ott:
Jalen Green (hamstring) undergoing additional testing to determine severity; recovery timetable to be determined in the coming days.

[NapoleonII]

Good.

The Clippers are lowkey more unlikeable than the Lakers, now.

Beal is a ruiner of franchises, who thinks he's a star.

Harden is a foul-baiting, stripper-loving beard.

CP3 is cooked and kind of insane.

Kawhi is the definition of '**** you, pay me'

Their owner cheats and is very arrogant.

[sunskerr]

Clips should waive Beal immediately. He is trash now. With us his box score numbers were honestly decent - like he was efficient etc, heck he even wasn't a super negative in the more important tracking-based metrics like EPM, but for whatever reason (and my lack of Xs and Os bball knowledge) I just couldn't shake that he was actually not good.

And some people here defended Beal pretty regularly (although I'm not really calling you out if you did - there really wasn't much to suggest he sucked if we ignore his contract and focus on pure on court production).

But now I feel like that feeling I had last year was at least partly correct.

As for the Jalen Green injury its an absolute shame. I hope this isn't a med staff and/or training staff problem because Booker has reaggravated his hammies before after returning.

Team is actually fun though. If Green becomes a solid player and Maluach has a nice career we can mark that down as a significant W for the franchise being able to recoup value like that for trading KD.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Fo-Real]

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Wow, what a **** show!! Feel bad for Cooper. Fire-sale incoming?!?! Somehow the Lakers are gonna greatly benefit form this I feel!!

[Ghost of Kleine]

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The Suns need to be finding time for this kid to play and develop with the team in Green's absence. Especially if he's going to lowkey be Booker's eventual heir apparent someday possibly?

Regardless of defensive concerns, we still need more offense. And he definitely possesses the skillset that addresses that production gap missing with Green out.

Brea took 25 shots to get 26 points. Was 5 for 17 from deep. Let's calm down for a second

https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Koby-Brea/GameLogs/157545

I am totally calm man. The best pathway for development is actual in game experience in order to build confidence and chemistry with teammates.

It's not like I'm asking for him to be playing 30 minutes a game. But not even sniffing garbage time in games that are in our control is mismanagement. He's well known to be one of the very best shooters in college basketball at the time he was drafted.

But we aren't giving him any legitimate nba floor time to begin figuring things out? What do we really lose by giving our young players opportunities in games we've locked up?

At some point it becomes important to actually begin developing our future core since we're not legitimately competing. At least afford him some garbage time for on court experience.

[sunsbg]

Wow, what a **** show!! Feel bad for Cooper. Fire-sale incoming?!?! Somehow the Lakers are gonna greatly benefit form this I feel!!

I hope Ishbia is not thinking about trading for a "superstar" in Street .. I mean Anthony Davis for Grayson, Royce, Maluach, Fleming + 2nd rounders(no 1sts left).