Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker addresses media before China Games
Devin Booker held a news conference in Macao, China, leading up to the Phoenix Suns’ preseason matchups against the Brooklyn Nets.
Provided by the Phoenix Suns
The youthful, new-look Phoenix Suns open their 2025-26 regular season Oct. 22 against the Sacramento Kings at Mortgage Matchup Center.
Here are five things to watch in Wednesday night’s game.
Who starts for injured Jalen Green?
Jalen Green played in all 82 regular-season games in each of his last two years as the Suns acquired him from Houston in the Kevin Durant trade.
He’ll miss Wednesday’s opener with a right hamstring injury.
Green initially suffered a hamstring strain in training camp leading up to the Oct. 3 preseason opener against the Los Angeles Lakers in Palm Desert and reaggravated it while the Suns were in China for a weeklong stay capped by two games against the Brooklyn Nets.
Grayson Allen started for Green in the first three preseason games and rested in the final one.
Allen is expected to start Wednesday along with Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, Ryan Dunn and Mark Williams. Allen is listed as probable with left hip soreness.
Minutes distribution
Suns first-year coach Jordan Ott was an assistant under Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson, the 2024-25 NBA coach of the year.
Ott has brought some of what the Cavs ran last season to Phoenix in terms of an offensive philosophy of ball movement, player movement, with an emphasis on cuts and screens.
Will his minutes distribution look the same as Cleveland’s from a season ago, too?
Twelve Cavs averaged between 31.2 and 19.1 minutes. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland in minutes per game.
Devin Booker led the Suns in minutes played last season at 37.3 per game.
Will Ott reduce Booker’s minutes and play 10 or more players?
Style of play/rotation/fouls
The Suns are looking to play aggressive, pressure defense and with pace on offense.
Does that require Phoenix to play 10 or more players?
Phoenix might need to go deeper in the bench because playing hard, fast and physical is taxing. Having fresh bodies can help a team consistently play that way.
Playing aggressively also tends to lead to committing fouls. The Suns averaged 29.7 fouls in four preseason games. Toronto led the league in fouls per game last season at 21.2. Phoenix probably won’t average around 30 fouls, but more than 20 is possible.
If the Suns start Booker, Allen, Brooks, Dunn and Williams, the rotation, based on the four preseason games and Williams making his Suns debut, will be as follows:
- Collin Gillespie for either Allen or Booker.
- Nick Richards for Williams.
- Royce O’Neale for Brooks or Dunn.
Then, later in the first quarter, Nigel Hayes-Davis replaces either Brooks or Dunn, leaving either Booker or Allen out there with four reserves.
Which rookie plays first?
It should be either Khaman Maluach or Rasheer Fleming.
Maluach and Fleming played in every preseason game and started the final one as the Suns rested 10 players, counting Green and Williams.
Koby Brea saw action in the last two. Based on that alone, Brea would be the third one out of Phoenix’s three 2025 draft picks to see action.
Ott said last week the Suns must look to be “fluid” when it comes to which big men see action. Oso Ighodaro started the first three preseason games, has a skillset of being able to pass, guard multiple positions and get up higher on defending the pick-and-roll.
Ighodaro may get the call if the Suns need their big to play up on pick-and-roll defense.
If Williams is on a minute restriction, maybe Ott plays three bigs. Williams has played a total of 106 games in his first three NBA seasons.
Maluach played very well against former Suns big Deandre Ayton in last week’s preseason home win over the Lakers, scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
The 7-footer was active, “super physical,” as Booker put it, but Maluach is just 19 years old and lacks experience.
So Fleming may get the first look, especially if Dunn, O’Neale, Brooks and Hayes-Davis are in foul trouble.
The second-round pick out of Saint Joseph’s is an athletic 6-8 with a 7-foot-5 wingspan. He’s been working on his 3, but Fleming has focused on defense and crashing the boards.
The Suns have built their style of play around those two qualities. Maybe it’s just a two-minute burst to end the first half to see if Fleming can give them a spark.
Will Brooks get his first technical foul?
Back in July, Brooks said he couldn’t wait to get his first technical in Phoenix, “so the fans can go crazy.”
What better time than the season opener?
Brooks has been called for 49 technical fouls over the last three seasons, based on FOX NBA stats.
He finished second in the NBA in techs last season with 16.
So, techs are incoming for the intense Brooks, but will he get his first one as a Sun in the opener?
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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