As a 19-year-old rookie a season ago, No. 10 overall draft pick Khaman Maluach spent the bulk of his time developing with the Phoenix Suns’ G League affiliate and playing sporadically at the NBA level in garbage time.
Many fans were pining for Maluach to get more minutes over Oso Ighodaro, but the early returns this season show just how misguided that stance was.
The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie sounds off on Khaman Maluach as a starter
Now 20 years old, Maluach has been thrust into the starting role in Phoenix. That’s due in part to injuries ahead of him on the depth chart, as both Mark Williams (shoulder) and Ighodaro (hip) have missed time. However, head coach Jordan Ott opted to start Maluach ahead of the more seasoned Valley native Ighodaro even before he was sidelined with that ailing hip. Maluach has boundless potential, but it’s clear the youngster is still not ready for such a significant role.
Following the Suns’ 125-114 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie posted his notes from the game to his Game Theory Substack (subscription required). Vecenie tore into the Suns’ new-look starting lineup, explaining that nothing the front office is doing is in service to elevating Devin Booker, and that Miles Bridges is a net negative in the starting five “because he can’t defend anyone.”
“I hate everything about what this Phoenix team has done to its starting lineup,” Vecenie wrote, not mincing his words.
And while the starting lineup has its own growing problems outside of its youngest member, Vecenie also made clear that Maluach is better served as a backup big on this iteration of the Suns’ roster.
He explained that he hasn’t loved the Maluach minutes as a starter early on. “I just don’t think his hands, screening or offensive processing skills are good enough yet for such a large role,” he wrote.
He noted that Maluach turned the ball over four times in just 25 minutes of action, calling that “a killer” from such a low-usage piece to the puzzle in the starting five.
The Suns, due largely to their injury woes and roster construction, haven’t put Maluach in a position to succeed. They slow-walked his development a season ago for a reason, but turning around and putting him in a convoluted starting lineup with Bridges and the duelling banjos Jalen Green/Devin Booker backcourt is the exact opposite of the tactic they chose for him as a rookie.
Ighodaro is a much better fit among the starters for a multitude of reasons. His added experience is the most obvious variable, but Oso’s screening, passing and game-processing skills are more what Phoenix needs in a lineup without a true floor general. If the Suns are going to continue trotting out a starting lineup without a true point guard, having a center who can help orchestrate the offense is paramount, and Maluach — through no fault of his own — isn’t at that level yet.
When Ighodaro is healthy enough to play, he needs to be the starting center. It’s too much pressure to put on the youngster Maluach this early in his career, given his skill set. As a backup who can play in spurts, protect the rim and go against opposing teams’ backups, Maluach can continue to develop while still being an integral part of the NBA roster.
It’s a shame that injuries have forced him into a bigger role that’s exposing his lack of experience, but again, Coach Ott put him in that scenario even before Ighodaro’s injury. It’s just a bizarre state of affairs for a Suns team that seemed so hesitant a year ago to have Maluach in their rotations.
Suns fans should absolutely still be bullish about Maluach's potential to become a great NBA player. Expecting him to be that at age 20 in a starting lineup that already needs other fixes, though, only adds to the team's list of problems.
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