The Phoenix Suns have had a fantastically productive offseason, adding Bradley Beal while also surrounding their core group of guys with the kind of depth that nobody thought they could. The allure of playing on a minimum contract next to Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker too good an opportunity to pass up.
Center Deandre Ayton also looks to be sticking around, and if anybody can get the best out of a 25-year-old big man who has flashed All-Star potential in the past, it is new head coach Frank Vogel.
With four of the starting five spots secured, who then will win the battle to be the fifth member of that crew come opening night of the 2023-24 season?
There are several strong candidates, each with their own unique case as to why they should be selected. Of the three most likely, and who will get the chance to stake their claim here, they will know that being the fifth starter on opening night will not mean they automatically get the spot all season long.
The Suns now boast young and hungry players, such as Keita Bates-Diop, who are going to do all that they can to crash the party. Just because he is not included in the names below, Bates-Diop is one injury to another player, or a solid seven game defensive stretch away from stealing this spot for himself.
3 players fighting to be the Phoenix Suns’ fifth starter.
3. Cameron Payne
Before you skip over this slide entirely, at least give Cameron Payne the benefit of the doubt and listen to his case. Payne does not seem to be fancied by many Suns fans to have a big impact on this team heading into next season, and yet there are a smaller subsection who do acknowledge that he has had a couple of postseason moments for the franchise in the past.
Payne may not be to your liking, but he is the only traditional point guard this roster now has. He has also played 178 regular season games for the team, and is one of their longest tenured players. Payne spent the last three seasons backing up and learning from Chris Paul, and has always been ready and willing when called upon. This is a challenge he is up to.
The real downside here is that Payne is, at best, an average point guard in the league. His 9.8 points and 4.2 assists for his career so far are, just like the player, just fine. Much more interesting is the 38.4 percent he has shot from deep in four seasons with the team, and if can continue to knock down that many shots, he will give coach Vogel something to think about.
He gets the Suns into their sets relatively smoothly, and he would have no problem deferring to the superstars and getting out of the way most of the time. Payne would never call his own number, and would only look to facilitate. Again, this is a plus when building out a case for the 28-year-old.
But starting Payne would mean a backcourt of Beal and himself which would be, to put it nicely, weak defensively. It would also ask a lot of Booker and Durant on that end as well, because Payne is such a negative because of his small stature. The only way this works is if Ayton and Durant are All-Defense candidates. This is an option, just not the one the Suns should look to first.
3 players fighting to be the Phoenix Suns’ fifth starter.
2. Eric Gordon
Eric Gordon represents a compelling case to be this team’s fifth starter. Unlike Payne, Gordon is most certainly not a traditional floor general at all. But next to Beal, he would be a much better guard option on the defensive end.
In fact it was those defensive chops that made the Suns go out and sign him to a two year, $6 million deal. In last season’s playoffs, Gordon spent a lot of time while with the L.A. Clippers hounding and annoying Booker. He has no problem guarding bigger bodies, and seems to relish the challenge.
In theory that should be problem solved then, right? Not quite, because Gordon is 35-years-old, and he has been brought in to be a player who can mask the future defensive woes of this roster when it matters most, in the postseason. What the Suns absolutely want to avoid is running him into the ground in Charlotte in November, then having him out injured when he is really needed.
So while Gordon is as good a player as any for this job, he shouldn’t get it for all of the regular season if the organization want to be smart about preserving his body. Make no mistake, they should definitely try lineups where the Suns’ four stars are out there alongside Gordon. But doesn’t that feel more like a closing group, and not one that starts a game?
The main beneficiary of Gordon in this role would surely be Beal. He could take the weaker assignment on the defensive end, and then move about offensively to put up somewhere close to 30 points per night. He could even indulge his playmaking side a small bit more as well, and give the Suns another way to hurt opponents. This can work, but it shouldn’t over a whole season.
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.