ESPN’s NBA analysts Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson don’t see the Phoenix Suns as a championship contender, but they’re a formidable team capable of building off last season.
“There's have and have nots in this league and there's more haves than we’ve ever seen in both conferences,” Legler said during an ESPN media call Oct. 19.
“More teams have enough talent to really compete for a conference title. I don't know that Phoenix is quite in that category yet, but I do think we need to think of them at their best of year ago, before those injuries set in, and know that you're going to have to show up and play this team."
The Suns open the 2026-27 regular season Oct. 21 on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Jefferson believes Phoenix has similar
depth as a team like defending Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs, but the difference lies in their best players.
“When you look at the success of the teams that we've seen in the postseason, (Oklahoma City Thunder) OKC's depth, San Antonio's depth, the (New York) Knicks depth. That's such a big part. I think Phoenix has depth, but where I think those other teams stand apart from Phoenix, are their topline, high-level players,'' Jefferson said.
"And yes, Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, yes, but if you compare the Suns’ top four players to the Spurs, to OKC, to the Knicks, that's where kind of you see where they are. You're like, oh, KK, their top three, four players are good. They're not as good as these three, four. Now the depth of the team is similar to the San Antonio, to the OKC, to the Knicks.”
The Suns return their top three scorers from a season ago in Booker (26.1 ppg.), Brooks (20.2) and Jalen Green (17.6). They also traded for Miles Bridges, who averaged 17.1 points a game last season with the Charlotte Hornets.
“Their next step, like Legs said, is getting better,” Jefferson continued. “The young guys have to make steps. That's what you see consistently in San Antonio. That's what you see consistently in OKC. You have to get better from within, and then your team can make the next step. If that's not the pattern, then trying to go get one of those top guys that can round out your team.
"That’s what they tried to do a couple years ago with Kevin Durant. ‘Hey, we're right on that fringe. We're that sixth seed, that fifth seed. We're not quite good enough. Maybe if we go get Kevin Durant, that can push us into the top three and contend for a championship.' So that's kind of the window that they're in right now.”
The Suns are coming off a surprising 45-win season under then-first-year coach Jordan Ott after trading Durant and buying out Bradley Beal following a 36-win season in 2024-25 under Mike Budenholzer.
Legler said injuries deterred Phoenix from having an even better year last season.
Jalen Green only played 32 games, mostly due to a recurring right hamstring injury in his first year in Phoenix. The Suns acquired Brooks and Green in the Durant trade.
Brooks missed 18 straight games late in the regular season with a fractured left hand and 7-footer Mark Williams sat 15 consecutive games with a left foot third metatarsal stress reaction. Williams was unavailable for the playoffs with the same foot injury.
“I think Phoenix was a great story last year,” Legler said. “I thought at one point, Jordan Ott was really putting himself in a pretty good position for an (NBA) Coach of the Year run. They had some injuries to some really important guys. Booker went out for a while. Dillon Brooks was having a career year, went out toward the end of the season. It sort of derailed some of that. You run into a buzzsaw in the postseason. So it doesn't feel at the end of that, the way you go out, you don't feel as good about the season that you actually probably had.”
Then defending NBA champion Oklahoma City swept Phoenix in the first round.
“They're, to me, one of the more intriguing teams as we head into the season,” Legler continued. “I think they've got some young guys that have got to take a step forward this year to help give them more additional depth. Round out their rotation, but to me, at their peak last year, they were a really intriguing team, and Jordan Ott seemed to be a guy that was communicating well with them. They were responding. I thought that their style was difficult to play on a nightly basis. I'm really encouraged by what that's going to look like.”
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ESPN analysts say Phoenix Suns aren't title material yet. Here's why
