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What To Expect From Phoenix Suns in 2026–27 Season
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- What To Expect From Phoenix Suns in 2026–27 Season
What To Expect From Phoenix Suns in 2026–27 Season
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
The closing stretch of the 2026 offseason is here for the Phoenix Suns .
Phoenix is roughly three weeks away from opening up training camp for a highly anticipated 2026-27 season. Numerous storylines are facing the franchise in the months ahead in following of the season opening - follow three things to expect in light of this below.
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Expect Khaman Maluach to Receive Starts
While center Mark Williams took part in a career-best 60 games last season, he missed a large chunk of games in the latter part of the season.
The second-year Sun played in only 50% of his available career games heading into 2025-26. There's no guarantee that Williams will reach the 60-game threshold set last season, which means Phoenix should plan accordingly.
Maluach and the third-year Oso Ighodaro will likely be jockeying for this role, but expect the former to receive several cracks at displaying himself as the center of the future.
Maluach's growth in Summer League seems to be sustainable, but he needs to receive the chance to prove just that.
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Expect Jordan Ott to Evolve
Ott is already one of the rising coaches in the sport in lieu of headlining a turnaround season in Phoenix.
While the 41-year-old is still mastering the art of coaching, he has a firm grasp on player development, offensive philosophies, and is coming along when rotations come into the fold as well.
There's an entirely new gear that Ott has the ability to unlock as well - even through the nature of already establishing himself. Expect the second-year coach to take an even more substantial step forward in 2026-27 - even to the point of potentially contending for Coach of the Year.
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Expect the Suns to Return to Playoffs
There are undoubtedly teams in the West that are expecting an upward trajectory to come in the near future.
Among those teams are the Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers, and Dallas Mavericks. These teams will likely increase their respective win totals in the season ahead, but it's somewhat challenging to justify any of them eclipsing Phoenix's 45-win benchmark quite yet.
Devin Booker is currently the strongest floor raiser out of any of the competition, while Ott is the most established coach as well, and Phoenix is the deepest roster out of the three aforementioned squads.
The bare minimum expectation is that Phoenix should return to the playoffs for a second straight season, if not expanding on the eight-seed finish.
