Suns have a secret weapon that nobody in the NBA is talking about

The Phoenix Suns are going to be a drastically different team than the one that was such a disappointment in 2024-25, and any success they do manage to have is going to be because of three players. Devin Booker is the star here, while Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks - the two players the franchise got in return for Kevin Durant - slot into positions two and three in The Valley.

The fit for Brooks in particular looks a great one, he will be their defensive quarterback who will relish getting under the skin of opponents and being the foil to Booker's scoring exploits. It is harder to see where Green is going to excel - his skill set overlaps considerably with Booker - but having a 23-year-old explosive scorer with All-Star potential is never a bad thing.

Nigel Hayes-Davis will be secret weapon for Suns.

Buried on the team's depth chart is forward Nigel Hayes-Davis, the 30-year-old who most certainly fills the "man on a mission" trope in Phoenix this coming season. He is a EuroLeague Final Four MVP - and as we recently learned - turned down lucrative offers from outside of the NBA in order to take the veteran's minimum and pursue his dream.

So while much will be made of the three rookies the organization has added - plus the returning Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro - it is Hayes-Davis who is going to surprise with how impactful he will be, particularly offensively. Right away he can take some of the minutes left by Durant, and will be an excellent creator off the bench at the forward position for the team.

He's not here to replace Durant either - nobody could ever do that much less a guy who has been in Europe for seven years - but that's one of the main reasons this is really going to work. Expectations in Phoenix have gone way down, and Hayes-Davis doesn't need to come in and do anything other than play 15 minutes a night, mentor some of the younger guys and make some shots.

Given what he has achieved in Europe with Fenerbache however, you would fancy him to surpass those modest expectations. If he could provide anything at all defensively that would be a boost, as the franchise looks to build their identity around that end of the court. His fit alongside Brooks makes sense in that regard, and he could also act as a perfect foil for both Booker and Green.

It would be a stretch to call him a pick-and-pop threat, but Hayes-Davis is going to be expected to do a little bit of everything offensively. He will also be playing for a first time head coach in Jordan Ott who will lean on the veteran when times get tough this coming season. Which they will - but if there is going to be a surprise package for the Suns - it is surely the little known Nigel Hayes-Davis.