The Phoenix Suns have key dates before beginning the 2026-27 season on the road Oct. 21 against the Portland Trail Blazers. The home opener is Oct. 24 against the Golden State Warriors.
Sept. 28: Media Day, Mortgage Matchup Center
Team owner Mat Ishbia is set to attend media day as it's scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Monday. The Suns will make All-Star Devin Booker and Jalen Green available for the first time since the Oklahoma City Thunder swept them in the first round of last season’s playoffs. Topics of conversation likely will include building off of last season, trading for Miles Bridges and Mark Williams’ offseason shoulder injury, which will sideline the 7-footer for months.
Sept. 29: Training camp begins, practice facility
The players have been competing in pickup games throughout the summer between travel, holding summer camps for
kids and enjoying their offseason break. They will return as one under head coach Jordan Ott, looking to solidify rotations and further embed their team culture, philosophies and concepts. For the first time since 2022-23 with Monty Williams, the Suns will have the same head coach to begin training camp for consecutive years.
Oct. 1: Green becomes extension eligible
Green went from playing every game in his final two years with the Houston Rockets to playing only 32 games in his first year in Phoenix, largely due to a right hamstring injury. His name has surfaced in trade chatter, but the Suns want to more fully evaluate his impact on the team. Green has a player option of $36 million next season and is eligible for that extension Oct. 1. How Phoenix handles this situation will give an indication of its long-term view of him.
Oct. 2: Fan Fest, Mortgage Matchup Center
Always festive, Fan Fest is an opportunity for fans to see players and interact. Players tend to run 3-point contests in a loose practice setting. Scheduled to start at 6 p.m., the event usually doesn’t last an hour, but it’s an entertaining experience for the fans.
Oct. 5: Preseason opener, Detroit Pistons, Little Caesars Arena
The Suns face the Pistons, who finished last regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference, at 4 p.m. Phoenix time. Whenever the Suns have traveled to Detroit, Ishbia has had them visit his company, United Wholesale Mortgage, in Pontiac, Michigan, or his ginormous house in suburban Detroit that has an indoor basketball court.
Phoenix concludes the two-game road trip Oct. 7 against the Chicago Bulls at 5 p.m.
Oct. 10: Preseason home opener, San Antonio Spurs
This will be the first of two preseason games against the defending Western Conference champions, with the second one Oct. 14 in San Antonio at 5 p.m. ESPN2 is televising the Oct. 10 matchup at 7:30 p.m.
Phoenix split four games against the Spurs last season. The Suns won the first two and dropped the latter two, with the final matchup ending in a 101-100 road defeat on March 19 on Victor Wembanyama’s game-winning jumper with 1.1 seconds left. Good preseason test against a championship contender.
Oct. 16: Preseason finale, Utah Jazz, Mortgage Matchup Center
The star players will likely see little, if any, action after four preseason games. It’s typically a final chance for camp invites to make a case for a roster spot. The Suns-Jazz matchup is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Oct. 19: Roster deadline
NBA teams must have their 15-man standard roster set by 2 p.m. Oct. 19. Teams can have a maximum of three two-way players to go along with the 15-man standard roster.
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.
Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jalen Green extension among key dates on Suns preseason schedule
