Before you start to get all jittery, perhaps even optimistically antsy about what the headline could mean for the Phoenix Suns, let’s revisit your very important and valid feelings in a few.
The Western Conference coming into the 2025-26 NBA season looked as lethal at the top and as deep throughout as any the league has ever seen. But as more stories continue to develop — like Nico Harrison’s firing in Dallas on Tuesday — you wonder if this nightmare of a competitive landscape in the West is actually what it was all cracked up to be.
So far, the only part of this deadly equation that has held up is the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They enter Tuesday 10-1, holding a 13.5 net rating despite getting zero games played from Jalen Williams, zero from each of their first-round picks the last two years (Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic) and a handful of absences elsewhere. Only four of their guys have played in every game.
Outside of those freaks, though, it’s been a bit of a struggle, along with some wobbly foundations for the teams near them at the top of the standings. Let’s start there.
The Denver Nuggets are not far behind OKC in net rating at 13.0 and are 7-2. With that, however, comes the alluring title pick having its signature acquisition going through major issues.
Cam Johnson is averaging a career-low 8.0 points per game and shooting 37.7%. Knowing the guy a smidge, the strong bet is he’s hurt and playing through it with the obligation he feels to meet the aforementioned hype. Rest up, Cam!
They are topped by just OKC and the San Antonio Spurs, who join the Suns as the only big-time surprises in the conference. San Antonio is 8-2, headlined by an MVP push from Victor Wembanyama, which accelerated some team-wide advanced numbers on both sides of the floor that have come back down to Earth the last two weeks. De’Aaron Fox’s return will help keep the Spurs chugging, but it would be even more of a surprise if they hold a top-4 pace given how large of a jump this is.
It’s an 8-3 Los Angeles Lakers bunch up next. They are expectedly 23rd in defense and riding incredible individual basketball from Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves while LeBron James gets healthy. Like San Antonio, this is a sample size worth seeing out a few more weeks to fully buy in on how good the overall team is while stars are doing star stuff.
Kevin Durant’s new foray with the Houston Rockets has efficiency numbers that sing better than a 6-3 record, ranking second in offense and seventh in defense. While they turn the ball over more than anyone, they also rebound their own misses more than anyone, foul less than anyone and have the third-best free-throw rate for themselves. With that, though, a team owning a shaky shooting resume in terms of the roster is shooting a league-high 42.4% from 3, so how many weight classes is that bumping up the offense?
Minnesota is 7-4, and the Timberwolves are having their access denied on the elevator to the rooftop until they figure out their point guard mess. Mike Conley has sadly and definitively reached washed status.
Instead of Minnesota allowing “Not Nearly As Ready For This As The Coaching Staff Would Have Hoped” second-year guard Rob Dillingham learn through mistakes, it’s trying to make it work with other solutions. This is all while Rudy Gobert is doing the thing massive humans in the NBA do once their mid-30s approach, which is start moving differently on the floor in a washed-esque manner. It looks creaky up north.
The Golden State Warriors are a pedestrian 6-5, and while the Portland Trail Blazers are 5-5 and showing signs of having something stable, it’s not very stable that their head coach was arrested. This is also the point in the standings where your plucky and overachieving 6-5 Suns land themselves.
Those are your top-nine teams in the West. Here is everyone below them:
Ja Morant got suspended for a postgame argument with Memphis Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo, leading to an all-time example of how not to reassure your fanbase that everything is chill in your first media appearance since the suspension. Memphis is dealing with its own set of usual injuries. Jaren Jackson Jr. has not had a good start to the year and neither has Morant, leading to this 4-7 mark. Cedric Coward contending for Rookie of the Year is the only thing the Grizz have going for them right now.
In the “Expected To Be Down Here” grouping, a 3-7 record sits with both the Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz. The Kings are 23rd in offense and 27th in defense. They just flat-out suck, especially considering how much talent they have. Utah already lost Walker Kessler for the year and moved No. 5 pick Ace Bailey into the starting lineup, the right move for his development that will also make the Jazz much worse the next few months, the downside to letting rooks learn on the fly. Maybe the Jazz find something with their youth, as Keyonte George has looked tremendous, but for now, they should still stink.
In the “What The Hell Are You Doing Down Here?” grouping, it’s the 3-7 Los Angeles Clippers. Bradley Beal had a string of injuries, including one he said dates back to his time in Phoenix, and head coach Ty Lue said the latest hip ailment is one that could be a long-term problem.
L.A. stupidly used Beal as a starter to begin the year, knowing full well he’d miss games and that it would disrupt their continuity in some fashion. On top of that, the Clippers’ edge is totally gone, and they are unrecognizable as competitors. Perhaps that team reappears later on this calendar year.
You could assign the same company for the 3-8 Dallas Mavericks. All three of their bigs have already been hurt, including Anthony Davis, who in some cruel joke from the basketball gods showed up to camp out of shape for the first time in his career. Cooper Flagg is indeed not enough of a savant at 18 years old to command an offense from Day 1, a foolish decision that was undeniably motivated in part by the desire to immediately anoint him as the franchise’s next superstar. This inspired Harrison’s firing, which opens a fascinating can of worms — there’s now a chance they choose to rebuild around Flagg instead of whatever the hell this was from Harrison.
Then there are the 2-8 New Orleans Pelicans, an absolute disaster that walks and talks on the floor like a team that is quitting on their coach. Reports surfaced just a week into the season that Willie Green’s job could be at risk, and it sure looked that way in Phoenix on Tuesday. The talent is here to be much better than this, but again, you have to be snapped out of that line of thinking at some point.
OK. Back to your very important and valid feelings. Do the Suns have a shot at a postseason spot now because of this? Some play-in fun at the end of the year?
Well, it sure as hell feels a lot more likely than it did a month ago and has to start with how the Suns have played themselves.
Phoenix is currently riding hot shooting, making 16 or more 3-pointers in nine of its 11 games. The Suns are only one of three teams to hit that mark in more than five games. They are one of eight to do it at least four times in general. The impact of the Jalen Green injury looms large at some point once the 3s stop going down at that rate and the offensive roadblocks arrive.
But those 3s are going up at a terrific rate because of a clear style of play that has obvious buy-in across the board. They’re also getting ’em up because Devin Booker in Point Book form is making a push for First Team All-NBA consideration and because their effort is connected defensively to get stops and play fast off misses.
The Clippers’ foul start will rub off at some point. Maybe Dallas can have the same happen once Davis comes back, and the Mavs tread water effectively enough by the time Kyrie Irving does too. Memphis almost always finds a way to remain competitive regardless of external circumstances.
But this is not the West we sang songs of horror and fear for in the months leading up to the season. With that, the Suns at least have an opportunity that didn’t even seem possible.
All statistics via Cleaning the Glass