The Phoenix Suns are down 0-3 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in their Round 1 series, and head coach Jordan Ott has officially hit the point where he has to try anything to be competitive.
Jamaree Bouyea can be unexpected Game 4 spark
Which is why turning to backup point guard Jamaree Bouyea should be one of the changes he makes for what is likely to be their elimination from the postseason next time out.
Bouyea was a sneaky great find by the front office and during the regular season exceeded expectations on a regular basis.
In fact he and Jordan Goodwin were both so good that coach Ott often played them together to good effect.
Once again the Suns must secure Jamaree Bouyea long term. pic.twitter.com/3UnwpDG95Y
— Gabe Guerrero (@GabeGuerrero03) January 28, 2026
The Suns were one of the few teams to beat the Thunder on more than one occasion, and the first time they achieved this Bouyea had a whopping 27 points in 40 minutes of action.
You don't expect that from him in a playoff enviroment, but surely he's worth more of a look at this point given what he showed us before?
Even more so when you consider Goodwin has been out of action for the last two games, so there are even some guard minutes going that Bouyea could slide into.
He played eight minutes in Game 1 and had three points, didn't feature at all in the next game and saw a single minute of action as the Suns went down 0-3.
Quite why his minutes are sliding in the wrong direction is anybody's guess, but Bouyea also possesses the kind of body that won't get picked on all of the time.
Make no mistake, the Thunder will push him around when he's trying to defend them and also knock him off his own spots.
But he has the kind of length that can make life difficult for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and really he can't be any worse than what we've seen from Jalen Green on that end of the court to this point.
We realize we're clutching at straws here, but when you're going up against the top seed you need to find inspiration from unlikely places to keep a series rolling.
Dillon Brooks has more than done his part for example, but Bouyea playing more minutes would be the real rogue choice to disrupt the Thunder.
With Grayson Allen only back from injury and Collin Gillespie struggling in the postseason, it makes too much sense not to see what Bouyea can do in Game 4. Make the call Jordan.
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