Suns' Place in First NBA Power Rankings Isn't Surprising

Opinions on the Phoenix Suns vary ahead of the 2025-26 season, though the team mostly is expected to sit at the bottom of the Western Conference while figures such as first-year coach Jordan Ott and star player Devin Booker figure out the best course of action to put Phoenix back on the right path.

Championship expectations are gone. The Suns - without the likes of Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal - would consider this season a success if they fought for a play-in tournament spot.

And their placement on The Athletic's first batch of NBA Power Rankings proves just that.

Phoenix, who placed 25th out of each team in the league, had this written about them by Law Murray:

"This team missed the playoffs with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal playing and Mike Budenholzer coaching. Now it is surrounding Devin Booker with Jalen Green (injured to begin the season), Ryan Dunn (still needs to show that he can shoot), Dillon Brooks (will gladly shoot) and Mark Williams (hasn’t played all preseason). None of those players are point guards, so once again, Booker has to say, 'I’ll do it.' The depressed expectations should decrease the drama in Phoenix, but the wins should be on the decline as well."

Depressed is one way to put it, but perhaps the reset is a sobering reminder to all of us, even owner Mat Ishbia, that building a verified winner in the league is hard.

Winning the NBA Finals is harder.

"My expectations are: I hope that we win more games than we won last year. But the truth is, it's not going to be measured in wins and losses this year, but it is going to be measured in success," said Suns owner Mat Ishbia back at the team's Media Day.

"... I promise to be more successful than last year in all aspects of it. Whether it's wins or losses, I'm not focusing on that exactly.

"But I am focusing on doing the right thing, building the right organization, and making sure we're gonna be successful going forward from a perspective of identity, vision, culture and something that fans be proud of. And I think that you're gonna see that, and that will turn into wins and eventually turns into championships."

The Suns' national evaluation will continue to be lower than most until Phoenix can successfully turn the corner on this reload instead of diving all-in on a rebuild.