Phoenix Suns: Grades for Each Player After First Week of 2021-22 Season

With their pencils sharpened, shoes double-knotted, and some new classmates to accompany them on the bus, the Phoenix Suns went back to school last week, opening up their 2021-22 season with contests against the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Portland Trail Blazers.

During this return to action, the Suns worked as a collective unit, but some players still performed better than others. A few “star students” immediately stepped up, leading to an assertive blowout win over the Lakers. But at the same time, others struggled here and there, leading to some ugly losses for Phoenix at the hands of the Nuggets and Blazers.

Having considered this, one can already begin to seperate this season’s top tier performers from the disappointing ones.

Over a long semester though, your first exam grade holds little weight in the grand scheme of things. With countless other opportunities to bring your grade up or down soon following it, most “first tests” feel more important than the actually are.

This absolutely applies to the Suns regarding to their start this season. One or two future games leaning one way or another might alter a player’s grade substantially, both negatively or positively. After all, these first three games only introduced us to this year’s Suns team, with a full 82-game slate back into the fold this year.

So working as a baseline, rather than a concrete determination of one’s full contributions to the team, grades for every single Suns player through this first week of play go as follows.