Suns Have to Make This Lineup Change Before Postseason

PHOENIX -- After dealing with so many injuries throughout the season, the Phoenix Suns have a new problem now that their top rotation players are finally healthy with the postseason just around the corner.

Players all season long have stepped up when their names have been called, and now it's left coach Jordan Ott with a difficult decision of who to play.

Ott has elected to go smaller the last two games after Dillon Brooks returned from a fractured left hand, but the Suns have lost both contests and looked overmatched in size as the games went on.

In last night's 127-107 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, the Suns played a rotation centered around seven players 6-foot-6 or shorter next to centers Oso Ighodaro and Mark Williams with 6-foot-9 rookie Rasheer Fleming only seeing five minutes on the floor before garbage time.

With the Suns (42-35) likely heading into postseason as the No. 7 seed and top-seeded play-in team in the West, they need to figure out their rotation quick with only five games left in the regular season.

What Can Suns Do to Fix Rotation?

Feb 26, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) passes the ball against Phoenix Suns forward Ryan Dunn (0) and Rasheer Fleming (20) in the second half at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

It's easy to overreact to Ott's lineup choices, but it's clear he was just trying to build off whatever consistency they had with all the injury problems.

Even before Brooks returned, the Suns were rolling out a smaller lineup of Collin Gillespie, Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Royce O'Neale or Jordan Goodwin, and Ighodaro, which also did not see much success in the win/loss category, but appeared to be building some continuity to being successful.

Adding Brooks to the mix in place of O'Neale has not been seamless as the Suns now simply are too small defensively and on the glass and have too many ball-handlers and shot creators on offense.

"Lineups. Have the right lineups out there. Those five guys playing hard together on the defensive end that turns into our offense," Brooks said after the loss to Charlotte when asked how the Suns can get their fits right over the remaining stretch of games (via The Arizona Republic's Duane Rankin).

Goodwin injured his calf against Charlotte, so the Suns might already be forced to have to move Rasheer Fleming and/or Ryan Dunn back into a more prominent role in the rotation.

The Suns have a 12.3 net rating in the 212 minutes Fleming and Dunn have shared the floor together this season, which primarily came in the 18 games Brooks missed with his fractured hand.

Ott was asked about playing the two wings after the loss to the Hornets.

"Yeah totally. We're tossing all of that around," Ott said (via Rankin). "We're trying to see the group right now as we're fitting parts back into it. Ryan has sat out the last couple of games. I think everything is on the table. Definitely got to contain the basketball better."

So what should the Suns rotation look like to try to fix their size problems without disrupting the rhythm too much heading into the postseason?

Gillespie has excelled with the bench unit despite being a starter, so the Suns should try to move him into a sixth man role and replace him with either O'Neale or Fleming in the starting group.

If Goodwin is set to miss time, here's our idea for Phoenix's rotation to try out:

Starters: Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Rasheer Fleming, Mark Williams
Bench: Collin Gillespie, Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale, Ryan Dunn, Oso Ighodaro

We will see what Ott ends up ultimately doing, but the Suns have to try something else or the physicality of the postseason will be too much for them to match if they already can't handle it in this closing stretch of the season with their current lineup.

Phoenix is back in action Sunday afternoon as it will close out a four-game road trip against the Chicago Bulls.