Looking Back at Suns Season: The Year of the Breakout

PHOENIX -- Not only did the Phoenix Suns surprise as a whole in the 2025-26 season, several players enjoyed breakout seasons to help the Suns exceed preseason expectations and overcome injury woes.

In total, the Suns had seven players average a career high in points as everyone was ready to step up when their name was called and bought in to new coach Jordan Ott's system.

"One of the things that has been maybe not talked about enough is the fact that you can put in the work, and our guys do, we got a great work ethic, one through 18 with our players, but that reaches a certain level, and for it to get to the other level, those guys have to know that the coaches believe in them, especially the head coach," Suns general manager Brian Gregory said in his end-of-season press conference.

"I think it hasn't been talked enough about. Those career best years have to occur in an environment where the players not only feel comfortable, but know that the guy making the calls is behind them and got their back and supports them and believes in them. And I think that was maybe the key difference, and I think you constantly have to tap into that, because a player can take all the shots he wants, but if he gets on to the court during the game, and there's no confidence in that, it doesn't matter.

"And that confidence has to come from inside. You gain a lot of confidence with the work and the time that you put in, but there's also got to be confidence externally as well. And the way (Ott) and his staff dealt with the players and in terms of building that, I think, had a huge impact. And obviously you feel great about it when you see players.

"There's a firm belief in our organization that if you put in the time and you and you and you earn things, they're going to come. Sometimes you have to be maybe a little patient when that time is but it's going to come. And I think our guys' understanding of that, and our coaching staff's belief that it's going to happen had a huge impact."

Here's a closer look at the seven players' breakout seasons and just how rare it is to see the amount of career years on one team in the same season:

Dillon Brooks: 20.2 PPG (previous CH 18.4 in 2021-22)
Grayson Allen: 16.5 PPG (previous CH 13.5 in 2023-24)
Collin Gillespie: 12.7 PPG (previous CH 5.9 in 2024-25)
Royce O'Neale: 9.9 PPG (previous CH 9.1 in 2024-25)
Jordan Goodwin: 8.7 PPG (previous CH 6.6 in 2022-23)
Oso Ighodaro: 6.5 PPG (previous CH 4.2 in 2024-25)
Jamaree Bouyea: 5.7 PPG in 46 games (only played in 19 career games across three years before signing with Suns)

The reason these numbers are so significant is that most of these players are in the later part of their careers (Brooks, Allen, O'Neale) or were pretty much non factors in the NBA before this season (Gillespie, Bouyea), an ode to the player development no matter the age and the system as a whole the Suns have in place.

This should give a lot of confidence to players up and down the Suns roster moving forward, especially to rookies Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming and Koby Brea who could see a lot more playing time next season.

It also gives a great tell of the Suns specifically targeting players who fit their mold no matter what their career looked like before and giving them confidence to go out and play their style of basketball.

The Suns have said they want to keep mostly the same roster heading into next season, so it will be interesting to see how these players can build off this season and who else could have a breakout year moving forward.

Players having career seasons could be a calling card for Phoenix for years to come under Ott while trying to attract players to the Valley and continuing the success the Suns found this season.

Take a look back at some of the most memorable moments of the Suns season by clicking here (part 1) and here (part 2).

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