The Phoenix Suns have now completed the first-quarter of the 2024-25 regular season, and it has been a mixed bag. At their best, this group looks like it could go on a deep postseason run, powered by their trio of stars in Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.
At their worst - which has only come about as a result of injuries - the Suns just don't have the star power to keep pace at the top of the Western Conference. They're undoubtedly deeper (for the most part) and have a pair of rookies who have contributed, it's just not going to be enough come the playoffs.
This team needed consistency, and Tyus Jones answered the call.
Which makes him the easy choice to be named the Suns' first-quarter MVP. Is he the best player on the roster? Hardly, but Jones has been exactly what the organization hoped he would be when they somehow got him on a minimum contract during the offseason.
He's helped to clean up the turnover issues that plagued the team last season, and has set the table for his teammates as promised. His seven assists per game is the second best mark of his career, and is miles ahead of the 4.4 he has averaged since entering the league. Jones also knows when to call his own number too, with his 11.8 points right around the best output he's managed too.
Tyus Jones to ESPN on his decision to sign with the Suns pic.twitter.com/9IYGsvnG7R
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 27, 2024
Really though the main reason Jones picks up this award is that he's yet to miss a game. With Durant currently out with an ankle sprain - and the same calf strain as Beal prior to that - it has been on Booker to carry the brunt of the load. He's gotten help from Royce O'Neale and even Grayson Allen in recent weeks, but it is Jones who has started and played in every game to this point.
He hasn't missed a beat, and his 32.3 minutes of action each night is a career high. So good has Jones been in fact, that he's made Monte Morris effectively a luxury. Morris was signed for the same reason as Jones - and to be his backup as well when required - but Jones has been so consistent it hasn't been necessary to this point.
Really Jones winning this award is both a good and bad thing. Looking at it positively, and it is amazing that the Suns could sign a player for such little money who in the first 21 regular season games could eclipse three All-Star level players to get to this point. It is scary to think of where the Suns would be without him.
Yet if Jones is rightly getting praised so highly here, it says a lot about the play of the three stars in The Valley. Durant had a scorching start to the campaign and clearly would have won this award again - as he did at this stage last season - if not for the various injuries that have limited the involvement of the 36-year-old.
Really though it is Booker who should be getting the nod here, but he has been too passive in most of the games the Suns have lost to beat Jones to this spot. At no point has Jones outplayed Booker for a stretch of the still young season, and yet he has been out there every game and outperformed the high expectations that were placed upon him. A deserving winner of this one.