Whisper it quietly, but Phoenix Suns' General Manager Brian Gregory has stood on business this season. The Kevin Durant trade has worked out, although the player himself has found a new problem with the Houston Rockets.
Adding to the end of the bench through the NBA Draft and signing of veterans has gone well, with one player standing above all others as a smart pickup from under the noses of the rest of the league.
Jordan Goodwin is the perfect role player the Lakers let walk
One of the main concerns the Suns had this offseason was lack of point guard depth, and bringing back Jordan Goodwin after a stint with the Los Angeles Lakers fixed that immediately.
Gregory did go one better by also picking up Jamaree Bouyea for the back end of the rotation, but it is the high IQ and defensive abilities of Goodwin that have allowed him to flourish again in The Valley.
With Luka Doncic exited the Lakers' awful loss to the L.A. Clippers, and with the Suns facing the Lakers in their next game, there has never been a better time to highlight all that Goodwin can do.
This Jordan Goodwin sequence >>>
— Stephen PridGeon-Garner 🏁 (@StephenPG3) December 19, 2025
You know your team is working with something when you get the marginal impacts he's provided from his role
He's been really good for the Suns, they'll have a *decision* to make soon on him & he's making it impossible to choose against him pic.twitter.com/MBTi2m2mJ9
The Lakers sure could use a veteran ball-handler if Doncic is going to be out for any length of time to set up both LeBron James and Austin Reaves, but instead it is Phoenix who will profit.
Booker had been going through a shooting slump in recent weeks, although his 38 in the loss to the Golden State Warriors showed he is getting back on track.
In order for that to continue, and the Suns need it to if they are to stay in the playoff hunt, it is better for Booker to have periods throughout each game where a true point guard is next to him.
With Collin Gillespie having been promoted to the starting five, another brilliant move by the organization, the importance of Goodwin has never been higher.
He'll come in and give you eight points and a couple of assists, with his scoring output (8.5) each night the highest of his career outside a 17 game purple patch with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Perhaps no number quite sums up his impact other than the fact the Suns are over five points better off defensively when he is on the court. Going from giving up 113.7 points on the season (13th in the league), to 108.4 (would trail only the Oklahoma City Thunder) when he is out there.
To think the Lakers had that on their bench and elected to give it up is a bad mistake, particularly given they look like fringe contenders. Look for Goodwin to again show what he can do when the two teams meet on Christmas Eve.