The Phoenix Suns enter the 2025-26 regular season in a much different place than when we last saw them play. Kevin Durant is long gone from The Valley - and Netflix is currently making us revisit that ugly breakup - while Bradley Beal also left for pastures new in Los Angeles after being bought out.
Not that all of this is necessarily a bad thing. Through four preseason games the Suns have played with more heart and effort than we saw for much of the regular season, with guys such as Dillon Brooks and Collin Gillespie personifying this new commitment to effort. Then there are Jordan Goodwin and Jared Butler, who have given this franchise the kind of problem it badly needed.
ESPN believes Suns can make the play-in this season.
Despite many experts out there predicting the Suns will be one of the three worst teams in the Western Conference this season - struggling to get over the 30 win mark in the process - ESPN is not one of those doubters. Kevin Pelton ran his annual simulation of the season - and although it claims the Suns will stumble out of the gate to a 10-16 start, things will only get better from there.
By season's end the team will have gone 42-40 - miles better than the predictions of most others - on their way to finishing ninth and making the play-in tournament. Although preseason is not an indicator of how an entire season is going to go, there is reason to feel confident that Pelton has gotten this one right.
From ESPN's season simulation the Kings beat the T-Wolves in the Play-Ins to face the 1 seed Warriors... https://t.co/6ewpksh53d pic.twitter.com/EsSFmDup4x
— Kings Uni Tracker (@SacKings_Unis) October 14, 2025
They're already playing - and playing well - without two of their five starters in Jalen Green and Mark Williams, while the likes of Grayson Allen and rookie Khaman Maluach have hit the ground running. Really though this roster has veteran guys such as Brooks and Booker who will not want to lose any game.
Yes there are three rookies and a pair of sophomores in Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro, but the mix of veterans, youngsters and guys playing for their futures in Goodwin, Butler and Gillespie is just right. The franchise does not have an incentive to tank either, given their own first round picks were traded away long ago for the likes of Durant and Beal.
Don't be surprised then if this group is frisky and battles for a play-in spot right the way through the season. Booker is due a big campaign having been slept on while Durant was in town, while Green does have All-Star potential at only 23-years-old. Center Maluach may represent the biggest variance of all - and if he improves ahead of schedule - brighter days will return soon to Phoenix.