NBA drops unexpected bombshell on Suns with schedule release fans will love

We have reached the quietest portion of the NBA's offseason, and if you're a Phoenix Suns fan that means pondering why exactly Khaman Maluach isn't playing competitive basketball in Africa right now. Which was why the official release of the Suns' 2025-26 schedule - alongside every other team in the league - was always going to be met with a lot of interest.

As was rumored to be the case earlier this week, the Suns will begin their campaign with a home game against the Sacramento Kings. A meeting that usually wouldn't mean much of anything, only it could now be the first occasion Jonathan Kuminga comes to town if he ends up leaving the Golden State Warriors and heading north to the Kings.

Suns surprisingly going to feature on national television nine times.

With the organization entering a re-tooling phase around Devin Booker, the belief for many was that the team was barely going to feature on national television this coming season. With Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal having left the Phoenix - and the Suns likely to not even make the play-in tournament as things stand - giving them that kind of exposure was always unlikely.

Yet despite being a small market team - and with owner Mat Ishbia having had more than a few missteps during his time in charge to this point - the Suns are to feature nine times on national TV. A couple of those meetings make sense - versus Durant and Beal for example - while others can be explained in a different way.

With TNT now out of the picture, both NBC and Peacock are going to be taking over moving forward, and they are trying to give fans a chance to look at all kind of different outfits. That can surely be the only reason NBC will be showing the Suns versus fellow Western Conference strugglers the Portland Trail Blazers not once, but twice. Doesn't scream appointment viewing at this stage.

Deandre Ayton isn't even in Portland anymore either, although Peacock will be showing a December 1st meeting with his new employers in the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite all of the setbacks that the franchise has had in the last couple of years, they are clearly still some kind of draw and that is encouraging for the Suns moving forward.

The presence of 28-year-old Booker doesn't hurt either, an in his prime superstar who on any given night can go off for 50. We haven't seen many of those performances in recent seasons - but with the ball firmly in his hands once more - you can bet there will be some monster scoring outputs in 2025-26. National broadcasters will be hoping it happens when they are in the building. A nice boost.