1 Word is Haunting Suns' Start to Season

The Phoenix Suns need to be better. They know it, too.

Oct 30, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (15) dribbles against the Denver Nuggets during the second half at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Halloween is now officially in the rearview mirror, though the Phoenix Suns are still being haunted.

The Suns' 1-3 start to the season has lacked many things, and practically everything all in the same swoop. Yet the one constant word surrounding the team and its inability to produce wins?

Consistency.

Phoenix had many buzzwords entering the 2026-27 season. Things such as continuity and culture were expected to lift the Suns up from their 45-win total last season, hoping to push Phoenix out of play-in tournament territory.

Thus far, the Suns have been anything but a team that's produced consistency on either side of the court.

And they know it.

"We've been preaching we need to put a full game together. We've played well in spots. I think if we can put together four quarters or even three, it'll put us in a better situation," Devin Booker said after Friday's loss to the Denver Nuggets.

Suns coach Jordan Ott, speaking post-game with reporters, added:

"At periods, that was us. That was our energy, that was our intensity and there's a piece of the execution that we need."

That's the problem: The Suns are only themselves in stretches rather than 48 minutes, and that's a massively tough hurdle to overcome on a nightly basis in the NBA.

Phoenix has been outplayed on both sides of the ball for much of their opening four games, and even their sole win of the regular season (against a massively depleted Golden State squad) didn't come close to easy.

Offensively, the Suns have been stagnant. The Booker-Jalen Green backcourt continues to struggle while others around Booker simply aren't hitting shots like last season. There's some suggestions to make a change, though it doesn't appear Ott wants to pull the trigger on that yet.

Defensively, Phoenix has largely been unorganized and out-rebounded through the beginning stages of the season. The Suns were without Oso Ighodaro for a stretch of games while Mark Williams will continue to be out for months, creating some uncertainty down low in the desert as Khaman Maluach has been largely hit and miss thus far.

"I thought our mentality was right for the most part of the game," Collin Gillespie said after the loss to Denver. "We talked about certain parts of the game we're in right place, our mind is in the right place and we're trying to do the right thing. Just got to put it together for a full 48 minutes."

Until they do, the term "consistency" will continue to haunt them.