The 2025-26 Phoenix Suns schedule is here, without the silly fluff of Christmas Day games or much national hoopla.
There are only nine national games set. Is that good for the brand? Probably not.
Does it diminish the basketball interest in this team? Absolutely not! Guess what? All NBA teams play all the other NBA teams, so the when and where isn’t so important as it is in the NFL.
But this roster and the churning atop the front office leave us with questions.
First-year head coach Jordan Ott has things to prove. Remaining star Devin Booker has his chance to lead with no other old head to lean on. The roster of personalities and personnel they’re managing remains wacky.
OK, onto the games I’m most interested to see, starting with the obvious one.
Kevin Durant’s Phoenix return with the Rockets
Schedule: Nov. 24 (Peacock)
Like his career as a whole, Kevin Durant left Phoenix and Suns fans with complicated feelings and a paradoxical legacy.
He was awesome in a vacuum, a two-time All-Star and by the numbers and the skills arguably is one of the most talented Suns players ever for what they were while wearing a Phoenix uniform.
Still, the context of how ugly the basketball was, how far they were from even presenting as a competitive playoff team, matters a lot.
Durant believes the fact that Devin Booker stans were fighting with his hive exists only on X. That can be debated, but there’s no doubt even the most hardcore Suns fans with any grasp of reality know there is some nuance, some depth to how they feel about the guy. The guess here is that the real-life feelings will come out in many cheers with a smattering of boos when Durant is back in PHX Arena.
To be quite frank, Durant just shows up to play ball. There could be more juice on the sides of former Rockets Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks.
Green’s letter in The Players’ Tribune already referenced an excitement about watching a “traded” Brooks, and knowing him from his Oregon days, there is bound to be a kerfuffle on this meeting date. Green’s also got a lot to prove to the Rockets despite his warm feelings toward them.
Old face in a new title-contending place
Schedule: Oct. 25, Nov. 29, March 24
Psych! This is not a Bradley Beal and Chris Paul section about a Clippers game! We can’t be sure either will be healthy, nor that the Clippers will be healthy around them, even if we are believers that if any coach can figure out how to manage Beal, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, it’s Ty Lue. OK, that game is second on the schedule, Oct. 24.
No, this is about the sneaky good basketball team that got a lot better while also sticking to its championship roots.
Cam Johnson quietly was one of the enticing trade acquisitions over the past two years, and while former Suns twin Mikal Bridges got the Brooklyn eject button across the East River, Johnson remained in limbo until this offseason. He, too, got the promising new home of a contender, where he’ll replace Michael Porter Jr. as a more reliable, multi-dimensional fit playing alongside Nikola Jokic in Denver.
Johnson’s shooting and style complement Aaron Gordon, and he surely will be a less frustrating defender to rely on, giving the team a very large wing rotation that also includes defender Peyton Watson.
The Nuggets got out of salary cap limitations, maintained their core and added depth under new head coach David Adelman. It looks like center Jonas Valanciunas will not be trying to jet to Europe, bench-master Bruce Brown is back after bopping around unimportant Eastern Conference teams since his departure from Denver, and the perimeter rotation includes Christian Braun, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jalen Pickett and Julian Strawther.
The Lakers are a no-duh game that’s on every other team’s must-see list
Schedule: Dec. 1, Dec. 23, Feb. 26, April 10
It’s been less than three years, but we’ve already had the narrative around Deandre Ayton go from “get him out of Phoenix” to “Why did the Suns blow up the Paul-Booker-Durant-Ayton core?” on the social media-sphere.
The offseason was a reminder that Ayton left the Suns having made whatever he does beyond and around the game of basketball too much for the team to forgive his problems of “focus” and “motor” while on it. The Portland Trail Blazers likely did not enjoy that Ayton hurt himself by not spending his large salary on a decent mattress, nor did they probably give him a pass on getting stranded by a Portland snowfall.
They released him and ate some money to do so.
Anyway, he’s on the Lakers now, where the oldest Ayton narrative can be revisited. The obvious No. 1 pick choice in 2018 was actually not Ayton but Doncic, who is also now on the Lakers because another mistake was made by Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison.
Sidebar: Can these GMs stop making dumb mistakes?
LeBron James is there, too, possibly a little bothered about his place in all this. But he is probably still good at basketball and probably going to play in Los Angeles this season without any indications of a trade upcoming.
This roster is very fun on paper — it’s more about drama than basketball though.
Thoughts and prayers go to head coach J.J. Redick, who will need heart pills handy when a lineup including Doncic, James and Ayton half-jogs back on defense after a missed shot.
Pick one of these Eastern Conference squads
Magic: Feb. 21, March 31
Pacers: Nov. 13, March 12
Cavaliers: Dec. 31, March 30
Here’s a group of teams we can use as barometers to determine how competitive the Suns are at different points in the season. They run the gamut from rising competitive squad to title contenders.
Their similarities? They have length, pace and have a jumbo wing or power forward as either their best player or close-to-it. We are curious based on Phoenix’s guard-or-center roster construction how well this roster can hang facing teams with ace wings or multiples of them.
EuroLeague-developed Nigel Hayes-Davis or rookie Rasheer Fleming will have to show some signs at some point this season.
Plus, the Suns are trying to be the younger, faster, longer team to compete with such teams.
Orlando is the closest talent-wise to Phoenix, which could hope to see a parallel growth curve if we’re talking about the Magic finding themselves right now. Led by Paolo Banchero, Orlando is well-coached.
They are deep at wing with Franz Wagner, Jonathan Isaac and now Desmond Bane leading the way. There’s a Tyus Jones revenge game written all over this and Phoenix’s top assistant Jesse Mermuys is out of Jamahl Mosley’s tree, too.
*Tries and fails to not mention a Jase Richardson Michigan State tie*
Cleveland is obviously a good team and has the Ott connection. The Jarrett Allen/Evan Mobley tandem could force some fun dual-center matching up for the Suns’ Mark Williams and Khaman Maluach.
Indiana is just fun basketball to watch and last year was a reminder of why those jumbo wings like Pascal Siakam might fly under the radar until they get your smaller-market team to the NBA Finals.
You can throw the title-contender Oklahoma City Thunder on here, too, if you consider that Jalen Williams is listed as a guard but has tons of length and is built like an explosive bowling ball. If the Suns can hang or beat these teams a couple times, I am officially intrigued.