Suns desperately need more from this key player to win games

The Phoenix Suns are hitting the road for a four-game Western Conference swing, and they will be doing so with fresh goals to aim for and their best player in Kevin Durant not playing as a result of a calf strain. Bradley Beal is also good to go, having come through the scare of a twisted knee in the recent loss to the Sacramento Kings.

With the trio of Devin Booker, Ryan Dunn and Jusuf Nurkic all not at 100 percent now for various reasons, the Suns are really going to need some of their role players to step up and help them win some games. Guys like Monte Morris - barely used so far this season - and even Bol Bol might actually be able to help in spot minutes.

But it is Grayson Allen who the team should expect the most from.

Maybe we should have seen this coming. After all Allen wouldn't be the first player to have a career year in a contract season - get paid - and then regress after securing the bag. That just didn't feel like Allen's game though, and the 46.1 percent he shot from deep last season - which led the entire league - felt like a number he could come close to replicating in 2024-25.

The reason for this was simple. Although Allen willingly moved to the bench to make room for point guard Tyus Jones, he was still playing in a similar amount of space when on the court as a result of the Suns always having one of Durant, Beal or Booker on the court. Only in eight games so far this campaign, he's shooting a paltry 31.9 percent from deep.

That's the lowest mark of his career, with the 5.9 attempts tying the career high of a season ago. That is unfavorable math if you're making a case to have a bigger role, and it explains why head coach Mike Budenholzer has used Allen 20.3 minutes per game - his lowest since 2020-21 - his final season with the Memphis Grizzlies.

With Royce O'Neale having won the battle with Allen for the sixth man role - and Dunn looking like he'll start in Durant's place assuming his ankle sprain gets no worse - Allen needs to quickly make the most of the extra few minutes he will be given in Durant's absence. It is frustrating for the franchise too, because they're leaning even more heavily into the skill he is best at.

Last season with head coach Frank Vogel, Allen was used as more of a two-way threat. Defensively he's got the athleticism and size to make a difference - while on the other end he was the release valve for any ugly possessions - and there were a lot of those. Yet despite the Suns ranking an impressive sixth in 3-point attempts (41.2), Allen hasn't helped like most expected him to.

A optimistic look at this information would say that the Suns are taking so many shots from deep - and Allen is such a good marksman from that area - that the math is going to begin to turn in his favor soon. All he needs is more opportunities, and he is sure to get those with Durant out for the next couple of weeks.

The Suns have to hope that this is going to be the case, as failure to get more than what they have so far out of Allen would be a disaster. Not only for this season - their roster is 10 deep when Allen is hitting his shots - but for the future if they want to trade him as well. A rematch with the Kings and the tilt with the Utah Jazz represent excellent opportunities for Allen to find his place again.