The first Emirates NBA Cup game of the season was a similar story for the 2026-27 Phoenix Suns. The defense was porous yet again; Dillon Brooks got ejected in the third quarter after scoring 20 points in the first half, and the starting unit continued to look like a convoluted mess in the 127-120 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
It’s not just the eye test, though, as the Suns’ starting five of Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Miles Bridges and Khaman Maluach is among the worst five-man lineups in the entire sport through four games.
Suns starting lineup is statistically the worst in the NBA
The retooled Phoenix starting lineup has now played 47 minutes together through a 1-3 start. In that time, the Suns’ starting five has a net rating of -36.5 — meaning they’re being outscored by close to 40 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com data.
Out of 35 NBA lineups with at least 25 minutes played together so far, that ranks 35th — dead last. Even multiple five-man lineups from the 0-5 Sacramento Kings have been better than the Suns’ starting unit by net rating.
Something has to change.
Phoenix can’t continue to trot out one of the worst lineups in basketball and expect a different result. They have too many players with overlapping skill sets, Khaman Maluach is not yet ready for such a big role (especially since Oso Ighodaro is a much better passer, screener and game-processor by comparison), and the addition of Bridges looks to be proving all the naysayers correct.
“I hate everything about what this Phoenix team has done to its starting lineup,” The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie wrote in his Game Theory notes (subscription required) following the Suns’ loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He questioned Maluach’s fit in the starting five and didn’t pull punches on Bridges, who he says “can’t defend anyone.”
Through four games, Bridges has a defensive box plus/minus of -4.4 and -0.1 defensive win shares. Those are both comfortably the worst marks of his career.
Bridges’ fit was already a question mark before he played any minutes for the Suns, provided he doesn’t spread the floor (career 33.7 percent from 3-point range) and benefitted from The LaMelo Ball Effect while in Charlotte with the Hornets. Needless to say, the Suns don’t have a LaMelo equivalent.
Getting Collin Gillespie’s passing acumen into the starting lineup would help, but it shouldn’t be expected as some sort of miracle fix, even if head coach Jordan Ott finally pulls the trigger and makes that change.
What is Jalen Green’s role in Phoenix?
Aside from Bridges being a poor fit for whom the Suns surrendered an unprotected pick and multiple solid pieces to acquire, the Jalen Green conundrum remains a problem the coaching staff has to solve.
In 25 minutes against Denver, Green scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting (0-of-2 from beyond the arc). He had as many turnovers (two) as he had assists and rebounds, and finished with a -9 box plus/minus. Green had as many field goal attempts as the 20-year-old Maluach.
As things stand, Green appears to be the most likely candidate to hit the trade block for the Suns. There aren’t enough shot attempts to go around with him, Booker, Brooks and Bridges all in the starting five, and Green doesn’t provide enough as a passer, rebounder or defender to justify his minutes if he’s not going to score as he did in Houston with the Rockets — 20.1 points per game across four seasons.
Moving him to the bench to play more of a Jamal Crawford-esque scoring Sixth Man role while inserting Gillespie into the starting five makes sense on paper, but there’s no guarantee that would work in practice.
The Suns defied expectations a season ago by playing hard-nosed, gritty defense and spacing the floor around Booker with a multitude of 3-point snipers like Gillespie, Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale.
That identity is gone, and the Suns are grasping at straws early on to figure out what’s going to work.
Through four games, the chosen starting lineup needs a fresh set of eyes.
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