The Suns are leaning into a new identity. Pesky. Irritating. Built to bother. They pick up full court and press with purpose, and every reserve checks in with that same assignment. There is a price for it. They sit second in the NBA in personal fouls at 23.5 per game. Still, if this style keeps building, the league might be the one that has to adjust. The whistle can only blow so long before someone asks if the game should breathe again.
Let me explain.
I had the Bill Simmons pod on this morning with Kirk Goldsberry riding shotgun, and they landed on something that snapped everything into place. Scoring is up across the league. Way up. The reason lives at the stripe. Free throws have climbed. Last season, teams averaged 16.9 makes a night. This season it is 20.0. Three extra points baked into the system. So when you see the league average rise to 117.0 from 113.8 last year, you know why without squinting.
Pull up last season’s numbers and you see Memphis and Denver leading free throw attempts at 23.3 per game. This year there are 25 teams clearing that mark. The whistle is working overtime. Teams are committing 21.5 fouls a night, the highest since 22.2 in 2006. The game is louder now. The line is busier. The pace of scoring feels inflated by design.
The Suns are living in the middle of it. A pressing team in a whistle-heavy league. A style built to agitate until the officials grow tired of calling every reach. If they keep leaning into it, the pressure might flip from penalty to advantage. The rulebook bends eventually. The question is when.
The NBA has shown a willingness to pivot when it feels the product needs it. Think back a couple All All-Star breaks ago, when foul-baiting took over and players hunted contact instead of points. It was never written into policy, yet we could feel the shift in the second half of that season. Pre All-Star Break 2024? Teams averaged 19.4 fouls and 22.7 free thow attempts. After that All-Star Break? More contact was allowed. More basketball was played. Less theater. 17.4 fouls and 19.8 free throw attempts.
Games feel slower right now. Heavy whistle. Heavy stoppage. Free throws stacking up like traffic cones after a rainstorm. Officials are calling everything, and clever scorers know how to spin that into profit. Create contact, sell it, walk to the stripe. Simple economy.
So what does that mean for this group in the Valley? They lean into being pests. They cling, they pressure, they touch passing lanes, they make you feel them every possession.
It costs them now, because physicality draws whistles, and the numbers show it. But if the league takes inventory, if analytics start flashing red on how many points come via free throws, the environment could shift again. They could tell officials to let more play through. Less automatic foul. More earned separation. More basketball.
If that happens, this roster benefits. Pressure without penalty. 94 feet of irritation that breathes instead of suffocates. Less punishment for physicality means more fuel for the identity they are building.
So for now, the mission is the same. Be who you are. Stay disruptive. Keep the gas pressed to the hardwood. The whistles hurt today, but the league has adjusted before, and if history rhymes, this type of team is built to cash in when it happens.