3 players fighting to be the Phoenix Suns’ fifth starter

3 players fighting to be the Phoenix Suns’ fifth starter.

1. Josh Okogie

All these new additions for the Suns, only for a familiar face in Josh Ogokie to top this list. No matter what way you look at it though, he is the right player to start for the team come opening night. Still only 24-years-old. Okogie started 26 of the 72 games he played for the franchise last season, his first in Arizona.

With Torrey Craig having left for the Chicago Bulls, and with the Suns most certainly going to feel that loss next season, Okogie is the ideal player to now step up and have a bigger role in this rotation. He was already an above average defender, and like Gordon is capable of guarding players who are bigger than him.

He also has youth on his side, and the experience of playing alongside Booker, and to a much lesser extent Durant. Okogie also started five of the six games in their second round series against the eventual champion Denver Nuggets last year, helping his team take two games in the process (Okogie did not play in the deciding loss).

Having Okogie start would again mean there would be no natural point guard on the floor, but this would then likely mean the introduction of “point-Booker”. The idea of Okogie defending the players who Booker normally would have to if Payne was on the court, and of Booker then running the offensive side of things, is extremely exciting if you’re a Suns fan.

Like everybody else on this list, Okogie would have zero problem deferring to the other players on the court, and we could also see Booker run a team and set up Durant and Beal. All while Okogie chases elite scorers on the other end of the court. Which is why he will rightly be the fifth starter for this team come opening night, with plenty of other players gunning for his spot.