3 Honest Thoughts as Suns Face Ugly Playoff Exit

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns move into what very well could be their final game of the 2025-26 season.

It's been a fun journey for the Suns, though reality of being swept by the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder is settling in.

Can the Suns extend their season any longer? Phoenix will host OKC for Game 4 action on Monday at Mortgage Matchup Center for one last swing at the plate.

While we wait to see those results, here's three honest thoughts as the Suns find themselves down 3-0 in the series:

Regardless of Sweep, Suns Had Successful Season

The Suns were swept out of the playoffs two years ago while completely missing postseason festivities last season — though this empty-handed season feels different.

It doesn't feel like long ago when many expected the Suns to be basement dwellers of the NBA. Phoenix ridded themselves of Kevin Durant + Bradley Beal with no future in terms of cap space, draft picks or trade flexibility.

In sort of an island of misfit toys next to Devin Booker with a completely new coaching staff and front office, there wasn't much hope of the Suns being much this year.

Yet the narrative was flipped, and for the first time in years, Phoenix was not only excited about their basketball team's future, but Suns fans were proud of how the team played. There was a sense of hustle and grit not on display with previous iterations of Suns basketball.

Making the playoffs was a massive success given where this team was at preseason. Don't let a potential sweep from the NBA's best team and likely repeat of back-to-back champions detour that thinking.

Devin Booker Gets Too Much Hate, Even From Suns Fans

Booker was awarded handsomely for his performance and loyalty to Phoenix with a historic two-year, $145 million contract extension last summer. Booker has been a steady star for the Suns since arriving a decade ago and has seen substantial highs and lows.

Booker has slowly shifted his game from being a premium scoring option for many years to more of a point guard/facilitator. Rather than trying to drop 35 every night, Booker's been tasked with organizing and leading an offense.

As a result, Booker's often tried to make the correct basketball play as opposed to imposing his own will. This has been a focus of opposing teams in terms of "cutting off the head of the snake" and forcing role players to beat them instead of Booker, who commands plenty of defensive attention and affords gravity to others on the floor as a result.

That's been on display this series, specifically after Game 3 where Booker saw Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks combine for 59 points while Booker himself only scored 16 points on 6-16 shooting, including 2-6 from three.

Booker hasn't been as aggressive in terms of scoring or box score production as Suns fans would have liked, and while Booker nationally doesn't get the recognition he deserves from other fan bases, it's been interesting to see some Suns fans begin to turn on Booker.

That's dissapointing given how talented he is, and this series is very much a "Phoenix isn't equipped to beat OKC" problem as opposed to a "Booker can't get the Suns over the hump" issue.

Can Booker be better? Absolutely, though with how his role has shifted, the Suns

Jordan Ott is Exciting Coach, Even if There's Still Room to Grow

Ott is largely responsible for how Phoenix has flipped the script in 2026, and the job he's done as a first-year head coach cannot be overstated. He wasn't going to win Coach of the Year honors, though he very much deserves to be in those conversations for the work he's done.

However, it's obvious there's some major learning lessons in front of Ott after this season. Such is life for any rookie NBA coach, but there's hope Ott can learn from some major lessons.

Those lessons mostly come from lineup decisions and finding adjustments over the course of a series, though doing so against Oklahoma City has to be graded on a curve.

Perhaps Ott could have trusted younger but potentially more capable players (Khaman Maluach and Rasheer Fleming) in the postseason. Maybe Ott's obviously unsuccessful game plans will be evaluated with hindsight and can be used for greater success down the road.

This playoff series isn't great for the Suns, no matter how you slice it. Yet when viewing Phoenix's postseason run with clear glasses, it feels tough for Ott to have done much more to change the outcome.

He'll still wear the sweep on his resume entering the summer, which will never give a good feeling or taste in the mouth - though he's clearly a smart and talented coach. If Ott's able to learn from a volitile rookie season, he should be capaple of a successful stint here in the desert.

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