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The Suns stunned the masses by trading for, and drafting, a center at the NBA Draft.
Happy Tuesday! I hope your week is going well so far — always tough getting back into the swing of things after a long weekend.
I’ll get to the Suns below, but first, does the summer heat have you down? Come get active in a climate-controlled environment at our 2025 Summer Pickleball Tournament at Chicken N’ Pickle! The tourney is for all skill levels, and features both prizes and food and drink specials. Best of all, it goes to a great cause, with proceeds going to Big Brother, Big Sister.
PHNX Diehards get an added discount, as well! If you’re not a Diehard yet, there’s no better time to join!
Hope to see you there. On to the show!
From Walter Clayton Jr. to Ryan Kalkbrenner, here are five prospects for the Phoenix Suns to consider with the 10th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft
Nov 20, 2023; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Saint Joseph’s Hawks forward Rasheer Fleming (13) shoots the ball during the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports
However the Suns roster shapes up next season, the most recent rookie class is set to have a huge impact.
Sure, the Bradley Beal buyout saga continues to take center stage, but fans and media got a slight reprieve from that yesterday when the Suns introduced their 2025 NBA Draft class: Khaman Maluach (10th overall), Rasheer Fleming (31st) and Koby Brea (41st).
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There’s plenty of reason to be optimistic, if not excited, about the incoming rookies. Maluach is a giant, but he’s also loaded with raw talent that could rocket him into NBA superstardom within a few seasons. Fleming was also a late bloomer out of high school, while Brea’s time at powerhouse Kentucky mirrors that of Phoenix star Devin Booker.
Our incredible PHNX Suns team has got you covered with all of their intangibles on both the PHNX Suns podcast and all of Gerald’s written content, but I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the more, well, fun facts about the team’s newest crop of talent.
Four Languages, Zero Stars & A Lot of Talent
Maluach’s story is pretty well documented at this point — the towering center did not start playing basketball until 2019. He continues to be a student of the game, and sure has the high IQ to back it up. The Duke University product joined the South Sudan National Team at just 16 years old, and was discovered by a pretty impressive former NBA player.
Maluach has a 9-foot-8 standing reach (seriously just 4 inches shy of the rim) in addition to his 7-foot-5 wingspan.
He got into basketball after being invited by former NBA player Luol Deng, who had a 15-year career, as both hail from South Sudan.
Maluach speaks Four Languages — English, Spanish, Japanese and Norwegian Bokmål.
He was 6-foot-7 at 13 years old … and he played soccer before he discovered his love for basketball.
Fleming, meanwhile, has proven skeptics wrong at every turn, and was not highly touted out of high school. One other note — just remember, if the NBA expands by just one more team, he would have been a first-round pick 😆
Fleming averaged a double-double as a sophomore in High School (13.7 points and 10.9 rebounds per game).
Even so, he was a zero star recruit out of high school.
Fleming grew three inches between his sophomore and junior seasons of high school. That sounds painful!
He was not highly recruited, but picked St. Joe’s over offers from Temple, Albany, Siena and Towson.
Brea just signed a two-way contract with the Suns, and will split time between the parent club and the team’s NBA G League affiliate, the Valley Suns. He can play 50 games in the NBA next season.
Brea earned a degree in education and allied studies at Dayton before moving on to UK.
His Godfather is Felipe Lopez, who played at St. John’s and the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies (1998-2000), Washington Wizards (2000-01) and Minnesota Timberwolves (2001-02)
Brea chose No. 4 at Kentucky because it was the day his younger brother was born. He’ll wear 14 with the Suns, which is also a nod to his brother’s birthday (1/4) and overall selection (41). That’s pretty neat!
His new teammate and former Kentucky star, Devin Booker, is his all-time favorite basketball player.
Brian Gregory’s Take: “They’re unbelievably hard workers, and that’s why they’re sitting up here today.”
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Not Ketel: More bad news on the injury front for the D-backs, who first placed righty Shelby Miller on the 15-day Injured List with a right forearm strain before later scratching All-Star Ketel Marte with right groin tightness. He’s listed as day-to-day, according to MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert.
Despite the injuries, Arizona picked up a nice divisional win yesterday, topping the Padres 6-3 in San Diego. The game featured vintage Zac Gallen, who allowed one unearned run over six innings while striking out nine, and Kevin Ginkel earned the save (!!) after working a scoreless ninth.
The Mercury were without two of their top players, Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper, in last night’s rematch against the Dallas Wings. Phoenix exacted revenge even without their two stars, though, winning 102-72 to avenge last weekend’s loss. The Mercury are back in action on Wednesday, hosting Minnesota in a 12:30 matinee (3 TV / Arizona’s Family Sports).
Summer Vibes: The Suns announced their 2025 NBA Summer League roster, which includes all three rookies. Gerald has you covered with all of the details.
Big 12 Info: Make sure to catch our PHNX Wildcats crew live from Texas during Big 12 Media Days! Make sure to keep up with the PHNX Wildcats account on X, as show times will be announced later today.
It’s Never Too Early: The Arizona men’s basketball team is already selling tickets to the 2025 Red-Blue Showcase, a wildly popular event showcasing the team in a family-friendly environment. The event isn’t until Friday, Oct. 3, but you can already secure tickets. They’re quite reasonable, by the way, ranging from 15-40 dollars.
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Big 12 Info: Make sure to catch our PHNX Sun Devils crew live from Texas during Big 12 Media Days! Make sure to keep up with the PHNX Sun Devils account on X, as show times will be announced later today.
Tip Of The Hat By Branded Bills
This was depressing, yet not surprising, all at once.
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