The All-Star break essentially pressed pause on a movie Phoenix Suns fans have been waiting to watch for their entire lives.
With the Valley Boys currently wielding a 48-10 record, which has them on pace to complete their winningest campaign in franchise history, all Arizona basketball fans cannot wait to see how this Empire Strikes Back or Spider-Man: No Way Home of a season ends.
Also thanks to their league-best record, no other NBA team sits better positioned than Phoenix as we move past a memorable All-Star Weekend and into this second portion of the 2021-22 season. But while the Suns as a team currently look better off than all their opponents, the way in which they got to this point is more complicated than what their 48-wins might imply.
Phoenix’s surge through the standings has been a product of team-play above all else, with each individual bringing different things to the table every night. Said contributions have been both massive from some guys, and minimal from others, but all in all, they got the Suns to where they are now—in a spot looking down on every other NBA team.
Although it matters far more what a player does in March, April, May, and possibly June, these final few hours before the break ends feel like the perfect time to reflect on what we have seen at this point.
So while you grab some extra popcorn and wait for intermission to pass, check out these grades for each individual player on the Suns, beginning with the starters and then moving down the rotation.