We are a week away from the NBA schedule release, according to recent reporting from NBA insider Marc Stein. Which means it’s time to look ahead to the most anticipated Phoenix Suns matchups. Sure, we don’t know the schedule, but we know who the opponents are, so let’s take a crack at projecting the spiciest matchups based on last season’s games and Phoenix’s history against other franchises.
Building off some exciting games in the Luka Doncic Lakers era
Playing five times last year, the Phoenix Suns faced only the Thunder more often than the Lakers last season
(if you include the postseason, 9 times against OKC last season). In five matchups, the Suns took the season series 3-2, with two of the five games coming down to the final possession.
With LeBron James on the Sixers, Devin Booker and Luka Doncic become the matchup’s headliners, just as they were when Doncic was on the Mavericks and the two built a rivalry after Dallas beat the Suns in a dramatic second-round series in 2022.
Divisional rivals, the franchises have met 13 times in the postseason, with the most recent matchup coming in 2021, when Phoenix won in six games. After a second straight 50-win season, Los Angeles revamped its roster around Dončić and Austin Reaves, signing Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton.
Against Booker, Doncic consistently brings his best, averaging three points per game more than his career average. Booker also scores more than his career average when he plays against Luka.
Can the Suns have more success against the champs?
The Suns swept their season series against the Knicks last season. While Finals MVP Jalen Brunson didn’t play in the second matchup, when he suited up for the first contest, strong play from Devin Booker late and a 20-point first half from Dillon Brooks catapulted the team to victory over the eventual NBA champions.
Phoenix went 7-11 against the top three seeds in the Eastern and Western Conferences during the regular season and was swept by the West’s top-seeded Thunder in the first round of the playoffs. The Knicks were the only one of those six teams against which the Suns had a winning record.
Despite big man Mitchell Robinson leaving to join the Celtics, New York’s roster remains mostly unchanged, with the team retaining key free agents Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson. The team’s performance against the defending champions could potentially be used as an indicator of its ceiling during the 2026-27 campaign.
Looking for revenge against Portland
For nearly the entirety of the regular season, the Suns sat as the seventh seed in the Western Conference, but they didn’t finish seventh despite having the West’s seventh-best record. Phoenix has Deni Avdija and the Portland Trail Blazers to thank for that.
In the West’s 7/8 Play-In game back in April, the Blazers stormed back from a double-digit deficit to capture the seventh seed from Phoenix in one of the most memorable Play-In games ever. All-Star Deni Avdija scored 41 points for Portland, outdueled Booker, and forced Phoenix to play a second Play-In game to secure its playoff spot.
Along with getting revenge on Portland for snatching the seventh seed and extra rest from Phoenix before the playoffs started, the Suns will have another reason to seek revenge: newly acquired Ja Morant hit a game-winner against them last year as a member of the Grizzlies. Victories against Portland next season would be get-back opportunities against a squad and key players who were responsible for heartbreaking losses.
Of course, every season produces a handful of games that nobody circles in August, but everyone remembers by April. That’s the beauty of an 82-game schedule. Storylines emerge where you least expect them. Still, these are the matchups that immediately stand out. Rivalries, revenge, measuring sticks, and familiar faces in new places. The schedule release will give us the dates, but the intrigue is already there. Now it’s simply a matter of seeing which of these games helps define the Suns’ next chapter.
