It didn’t take long for the Phoenix Suns to find a replacement for sharpshooter Grayson Allen, whom they dealt to the Charlotte Hornets to acquire power forward Miles Bridges. In the first hours of NBA Free Agency, the team agreed to a two-year $13 million deal with sharpshooter Luke Kennard, who is set to fill the bench role that Allen gave the Suns the past few seasons.
When they were at Duke together, here’s how the two teams’ games compare to each other.
Attributes/Intangibles
Grayson Allen
Height: 6’3”
Age: 30
Weight: 198 pounds
Contract:
Going into the third year of a 4-year $70 million contract he signed back in 2024
Years in the NBA: 8
Games played: 454
Luke Kennard
Height: 6’5”
Age: 30
Weight: 205 pounds
Contract: Just signed a two-year, $13 million deal
Years in the NBA: 9
Games played: 538
Some extra tidbits
Despite Allen being the older player, Kennard is the one who’s been in the league longer, having played all four years at Duke, while Allen spent just two seasons there. Kennard has played roughly a full season more of games and 10 more playoff games, but Allen has one more playoff appearance after making them in five out of his last six seasons.
Career Averages
Grayson Allen
Points per game: 11.2
Rebounds per game: 3
Assists per game: 2.2
Shooting Splits (FG/3PT/FT): 44.3/40.3/85.7 shooting splits
Last season’s averages: 16.5 points, 3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game on 40.3/34.9/85.7 shooting splits in 51 games played with the Phoenix Suns.
Luke Kennard
Points per game: 9.6
Rebounds per game: 2.8
Assists per game: 2.8
Shooting Splits (FG/3PT/FT): 46.6/44.2/88.5 shooting splits
Last season’s averages: 8.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game on 53.3/47.8/91.3 shooting splits in 78 total games with the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Lakers.
Some extra tidbits
Allen had his best season last year, but lower-body injuries required him to miss 31 games. Allen has typically played more minutes with his teams than Kennard has, and scores slightly less efficiently. Both take more threes than twos. Kennard has never started more than 25 games in a season, while Allen has played the role of reserve and starter almost evenly throughout his career. He started in 74 games his first season in Phoenix, only seven the next, and in 53% of his games during the 2025-2026 campaign.
Playstyles
Grayson Allen
A shooter mostly to start his career, Allen has developed his playmaking and passing abilities in recent seasons. He had his two highest assist seasons with Phoenix, and when Bradley Beal and Devin Booker endured injuries in the 2023-2024 campaign, he was thrust into numerous ball-handling and point guard duties. In February of 2024, when Booker and Beal missed time, Allen averaged 4.1 assists per game and had a career-best 14-assist game against the Utah Jazz, playing point guard.
This past season, taking the most shots of his career (he took 13.1 per game, his second-most is 9.1), Allen’s efficiency dipped as he became more of a volume scorer and someone Phoenix relied on to create offense. He got to the line more than he ever has per game, which coincided with more shot attempts and turnovers. Additionally, he’s become more of a defensive playmaker, diving for loose balls, and was second on the team in steals per game last year.
Luke Kennard
For the entirety of his career, Kennard has been a marksman. He holds the highest three-point percentage out of any active player, including the NBA’s all-time leader in three-pointers made, Steph Curry.
Playing alongside dynamic playmakers such as Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Ja Morant, he’s at his best when he’s being set up for shots, which is why one of the best games of his career came in Games 1 and 2 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs this year against the Houston Rockets when he scored 27 points and 23 points respectively as James was looking for him to find open shooters.
Unlike Allen, Kennard hasn’t been thrust into a main scoring role recently. He hasn’t taken more than 10 shots per game or averaged more than 26 minutes a game since his third season, and his role in Phoenix projects to be no different.
While the Phoenix Suns are getting a cheaper, arguably better shooter, Luke Kennard is not the offensive nor defensive playmaker that Grayson Allen has become, but they filled a hole that they created when they acquired Miles Bridges.
