3 thoughts on the Phoenix Suns’ 2023-24 schedule

The NBA officially got a little more interesting on Thursday, with the much anticipated arrival of the 2023-24 NBA schedule. The Phoenix Suns finally finding out who they will play and when, although only 80-of-82 games are currently known as a result of the in-season tournament.

Whatever your thoughts on that potential distraction, the real work can now start for the Suns’ coaching staff and front office, in preparing the team for the road ahead. Superstar players like Devin Booker, a dark horse for MVP next season, and Kevin Durant, are going to do what they do.

But the schedule itself and the way in which it has fallen for the Suns, means they can plan how they are going approach the new season.

The regular season seems to have lost some of its spark in recent years, with many seeing it as a process to be gotten through before the playoffs start. The Suns might be no different in that a championship is the goal, but the importance of the regular season is heightened for them.

Not only would it be ideal to get as high as seed as possible, so as to have homecourt advantage for as long as possible (we saw the eventual champion Denver Nuggets profit massively from this last season). But just having their star trio of Booker, Durant and Bradley Beal make it through the regular season in one piece is equally as important. The hard work starts now for the franchise.

3. A chance to put some wins on the board early

By the time November 22nd rolls around, the Suns will have played 14 games, and we will be getting a sense of where they are as a club. That will represent one-eighth of the season, and the need to shoot out of the blocks early will be paramount for this group.

After beginning the season with a meeting against former hero Chris Paul and the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco, the Suns will then travel to Los Angeles to face the Lakers. That’s a tough way to begin a year, and while 1-1 would be a perfectly fine return, there is a chance this all goes wrong and the organization suddenly fund themselves down 0-2 right away.

In their next 12 games after that, the Suns will play the Utah Jazz (three times), San Antonio Spurs (twice), Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves. Two of those games, against the Jazz and Trail Blazers, will be in-season tournament games (there’s also another tournament meeting with the Lakers in there).

There is no reason the Suns can’t win all 10 of those contests against the aforementioned teams, regardless of if they’re home or away. An 0-2 start might look ugly, but it won’t be cause for panic. To follow that up by winning 10 or 11 of the next 12, in what will be a softer part of their schedule, should be the goal here for head coach Frank Vogel.

2. Road trip will tell all

There is that one point in every season where each team has to get out on the road for an extended period of time. After having the comforts of home from December 1st through to the 17th (six games), the Suns will head out East in late January.

Prior to six games out that way, the Suns will also travel to face the Dallas Mavericks, in a matchup that is getting spicier by the year. The Eastern road trip will take in the following six teams, with most of them representing a difficult matchup for the Suns for varying reasons.

• January 26, 2024: at Indiana Pacers (a young and frisky team with some talent)
• January 28, 2024: at Orlando Magic (an even younger and friskier group)
• January 29, 2024: at Miami Heat (reigning Eastern Conference champions)
• January 31, 2024: at Brooklyn Nets (Mikal Bridges revenge game anybody?)
• February 2, 2024: at Atlanta Hawks (variance of this Hawks team is crazy each night)
• February 4, 2024: at Washington Wizards (this shouldn’t be too much of a problem)

Teams learn the most about themselves when they’re on the road together. Starting in Dallas and heading down to Florida, then coming back up to face Durant’s former team in the Nets, is not an easy task. This is a group full of veterans though, and they will be well used to such periods over the course of a year.

What will be interesting however is how they gel together on this extended trip. If they lose a couple of games early, will they drop their heads? Worse still, if an injury to a key rotation player happens, how will this roster respond with their backs to the wall on the road? This is a key stretch for the franchise at a pivotal point in the season, that will tell us a lot about them.

1. Favorable strength of schedule

If you head on over to the informative positive residual website, you will see that the Suns have the ninth easiest schedule in the league before a ball has been bounced. This will change as the season develops and the games dwindle and some opponents end up being better than expected.

But for a group with such high expectations, that is not a bad place to be. The website also places the Suns fourth in veteran players at 2.88, and while that seems like a bit of a strange number to use here, there is method to introducing it. The Suns have tons of players who have seen it all before.

Durant has won multiple championships, Booker has been to the finals and Gordon was on a Houston Rockets contender for years. Beal has limited playoff experience, but he’s not a complete rookie. The back end of the rotation has far less experience in that regard, and it is unclear how much the likes of Bol Bol or Chimezie Metu are going to play when it really matters.

While older players are obviously more prone to injuries, having a softer than average schedule right now, and the players who have navigated it all before, is a nice tandem to have as the franchise seeks to have a memorable regular season. The front office has done a nice job of sprinkling in players with something to prove as well.

All in all then, it is about hitting the ground running for the Suns, taking advantage of long home stands when they can get them, and approaching that extended road trip out East with optimism. Do all of that, while beating the teams they’re supposed to and nabbing enough wins against the better opponents, and the Suns are going to have no problems with this regular season.