The final regular season game of the 2025-26 season was an essentially meaningless one for the Phoenix Suns, as the Suns were already locked in as the Western Conference's 7th seed, but the team's pool of young talent made sure to make the most of this extra opportunity.
In a 135-103 win over the Thunder (and their backups and young talents), all of the Suns' young talent shined. Jamaree Bouyea led the way with a career-high 27 points on 56.5 TS% and 9 assists. Koby Brea posted career highs across the board with 20 points on 90.9 TS%, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in 29 minutes. Khaman Maluach put up 18 points (including 2 3s), 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
The standouts: Ryan Dunn and Rasheer Fleming (once again)
In a game that felt meaningless, the two performances that might have held some meaning were from Ryan Dunn and Rasheer Fleming. Dunn put up his best game of the season, with 20 points on 81.2 TS%, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. Fleming added another solid outing to his breakout rookie season, as he tied his career-high of 16 points, to go along with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a block.
It was a phenomenal showing overall for the Suns, but it was particularly notable for Ryan Dunn and Rasheer Fleming, who have been vying for a spot in the rotation since All-Star Weekend.
In the past month, Dunn has averaged 6.4 points on 65.2 TS%, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists (to 0.8 turnovers), and 1.4 steals+blocks in 19.0 minutes, showing major signs of growth by playing mistake-free basketball and shooting efficiently, while still being the defensive menace he's always been.
Rasheer Fleming has given the Suns great minutes all season, leading the team in NETRTG at 6.1 (with an 11.4 NETRTG post All-Star). He's given the Suns the size, athleticism, and shooting they've needed on the wing, shooting 40.5% from 3 on 3.4 attempts and averaging 6.4 points with 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals+blocks in 18.6 minutes since All-Star Weekend. On the season, he posted a team-best 41.2 DFG%, which also ranked 9th in the NBA (minimum 200 DFGA).
As good as the two of them have been individually, they're even better together, posting a team-best NETRTG of 11.7 amongst 2 player lineups in 247 minutes (minimum qualifier).
The final decision on the postseason rotation is in Jordan Ott's hands
Head Coach Jordan Ott has seemingly already decided on a 9-man postseason rotation of Booker, Green, Brooks, Goodwin, Williams, O'Neale, Allen, Gillespie, and Ighodaro, as that's what they showcased in their last fully healthy (minus Highsmith) matchup against Houston on April 7th, but Dunn and Fleming have certainly made it difficult for him to justify their exclusion.
When looking at that 9-man rotation, there's a notable lack of size on the wing, which is exactly what Dunn (6-8) and Fleming (6-9) would add. Only two of those nine players are taller than 6-6, and it's the two bigs, Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro.
It may be too late in the game to make any changes to the rotation, but after all Dunn and Fleming have shown already, it seems as though Ott couldn't be convinced into finding minutes for them anyway.
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