Suns' 2026-27 Season Outlook Comes With Plenty of Skepticism

PHOENIX -- Even after exceeding all expectations during the 2025-26 season and bringing back 12 of 15 players from last year's team, there are still a lot of questions if the Phoenix Suns can carry over their success to this season.

The Suns became tougher to evaluate heading into the year when Mark Williams suffered a torn labrum, and they have win-total lines of 38.5 to 40.5 on different sportsbooks after going 45-37 last season.

The Athletic Predicts Suns to Have Losing Record

The Athletic's John Hollinger predicted the Suns to be tied for ninth in the Western Conference with the Golden State Warriors with a lowly 37-45 record.

Hollinger has concerns about the moves Phoenix made this offseason.

"After a solid season in which they avoided doing anything catastrophically shortsighted and scored some genuine roster-building wins with guys like Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin, the Suns went back to their old ways of hubris this summer," Hollinger wrote.

"The trade for Miles Bridges was bad enough, but the exclamation point was general manager Brian Gregory’s news conference statement that it was OK to give up an unprotected 2033 first-round pick because, 'We’re always going to be good, so where are our draft picks going to be?'

"News flash: You’re not even good now, let alone in 2033. Extending this a bit further, 29 other teams also don’t expect to be bad in 2033. The difference is that all 29 of them are in a better position to be a good team in 2033 than the Suns, who have pushed all their chips in on a team that has one fringe All-Star, modest levels of pipeline talent and no draft picks until after their logo burns out."

Looking beyond the Bridges trade, Hollinger is not confident in the big extensions the Suns gave two of their key players:

"The Suns have further boxed themselves in with overexuberant extensions for Devin Booker (owed $68 million in 2029-30 — yikes!) and Dillon Brooks (a genuinely valuable player, but one who will be making $26 million in his age-34 season) and seem likely to do the same next with Bridges. It’s hard to see a scenario in which the 2030 version of this team isn’t absolutely awful.

"About the only positive of the Mat Ishbia era is that he is willing to spend freely, going into the tax and absorbing the repeater penalty to keep Gillespie, Goodwin and Mark Williams in free agency, and adding Luke Kennard to replace the departed Grayson Allen, who was low-key fantastic last year and will be missed. Williams, alas, has a torn labrum that likely will keep him out much of the season, a big blow that leaves the Suns depending on Oso Ighodaro and Khaman Maluach in the middle.

"On the court, at least, the Suns will keep you entertained by how hard they play, with Brooks, Goodwin and Ighodaro standing out nearly every night in this regard. At the moment, they aren’t bad, and there’s upside for a top-six seed if perennial tease Jalen Green can turn the corner. I project them tied for ninth, but it’s a tight cluster: I only have them three games from seventh and six from sixth.

"Regardless of how it ends, enjoy this run of moderate competence while it lasts, Suns fans. A long, cold winter lies ahead."

Can Suns Defy Low Expectations?

It's almost a good thing again for the Suns to not have a lot of expectations put on them, so they can continue to play freely and without much pressure, which is perfect for coach Jordan Ott's system.

With that said, opponents now know when they play Phoenix that the Suns are going to give all-out effort and hustle throughout the game, so they are not going to sneak up on anyone.

If the Suns can stay healthy, it's hard not to see them finishing around or better than they did last season.

The additions of Bridges and Kennard, as well as new deals for Gillespie and Goodwin, are more likely to help the team rather than hurt it, unlike what Hollinger said.

There is a reason to be concerned about the future of the team, but Suns owner Mat Ishbia proved he can quickly move on and reload when no one expects it after moving off Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal last summer and finding success immediately after.

The Suns have a culture and standard in place, and this 2026-27 season will be a major proving ground for whether they can sustain this identity and whether it can continue to translate to winning now and in the future.

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