The Phoenix Suns will host their official media day this coming week ahead of their preseason tour to Macau, and there is going to be plenty to discuss. All eyes will be on first year head coach Jordan Ott as he tries to make sense of the roster that has been put in front of him, one with very different expectations than the group who ended last season.
The glaring point guard issue is one that has been brought up a ton this summer, and with good reason. Right now one of Jalen Green and Devin Booker are going to assume that role, with Collin Gillespie backing them up. Then there are former Sun and potentially hidden gem Jared Butler, at least one of which is going to be kept around as well.
Suns have a problem in deciding who backup shooting guard is.
For all the talk of the floor general dilemma in The Valley, just who is going to be the backup for Booker or Green at the two is another big issue. It is fair to point out that one of them can always be on the court, and so that solves the problem. But if both are also going to spend some time setting up their teammates, then they're not capable of splitting all 48 minutes of a game at the two.
“Why don’t you want Devin Booker playing Point Guard?” pic.twitter.com/Tc9H4UCmDH
— Book’em (@dbookownsyou) August 8, 2025
The obvious answer then is Grayson Allen, somebody who out-kicked their coverage in the past by being more important to the team than Bradley Beal during both guy's first season in Phoenix. Allen is capable of playing 30 minutes a night, and he led the league in 3-point shooting that first campaign with the Suns.
But the front office would surely trade him if they could, and wasting prime minutes on a veteran when the team should be focusing on improving their sudden influx of youngsters also makes this far from ideal. The same is also true of Royce O'Neale - who had a much better season than Allen last time out - although he can operate as a forward in certain lineups.
The other way of looking at this situation is that the Suns could opt to lean on Allen or O'Neale heavily in the backup role, in the hopes that it increases their trade value. It's the correct long-term approach to take, but it does also mean that the team are going to suffer if either are asked to create their own shot for long periods of a game.
The beauty of both guys alongside Kevin Durant was how many open looks they got, and the same can be true alongside Booker. But if he's taking some of their time as the prime shooting guard - as well as trying to set everybody else up when he's running the show - then it will represent a problem. Yes the point guard issue will dominate media day until their is clarity, but backup two is also an issue.