Preseason games and rankings mean something until they don’t once the regular season begins in the NBA. As of now, Yahoo Sports has the Phoenix Suns projected starting lineup, in order of star power, about where one would expect minus Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal: below average.
According to Yahoo Sports writer Ben Rohrbach, Phoenix lands at No. 22 out of 30 teams with only Dillon Brooks at the projected 4th-best star option and earning an above average ranking for his position (No. 13).
The projected starting five (by level of star power, not position) was listed as follows:
1. Devin Booker
2. Jalen Green
3. Mark Williams
4. Dillon Brooks
5. Ryan Dunn
With Jalen Green likely to miss the first few games of the 2025-26 season, the ideal lineup will take some time to fully shape up. Center Mark Williams, who was traded to the Suns in late June from the Charlotte Hornets, has been handled with care in the preseason as the team hopes to crack the code on his lengthy track record of injuries.
Booker is expected to be more of a floor general, as he was early in his career with Phoenix, and is considered the league’s 16th-best option at the 1.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets was named the top No. 1 option.
When healthy, Green is expected to be the 20th-best option at the 2 on the court whereas Williams is No. 27 at the 3 and second-year pro Dunn is No. 23 at the 5.
For context, the Suns ranked one better than the Milwaukee Bucks and one worse than the Indiana Pacers. Phoenix posted an average star power score of 19.8, which was good enough to be ahead of three teams in the Western Conference — New Orleans Pelicans (No. 24), Portland Trail Blazers (No. 25) and Utah Jazz (No. 27).
The Houston Rockets came in ninth with Durant as their 1, who was named the 12th-best option in the NBA.
Suns and rest of Western Conference starting 5 rankings
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Denver Nuggets
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Golden State Warriors
8. Los Angeles Lakers
9. Houston Rockets
10. San Antonio Spurs
11. Los Angeles Clippers
14. Sacramento Kings
15. Dallas Mavericks
18. Memphis Grizzlies
22. Phoenix Suns
24. New Orleans Pelicans
25. Portland Trail Blazers
27. Utah Jazz