As we button up the 2025-26 Phoenix Suns season, I imagine this is what it feels like to be a teacher in May. The school year ends, the kids head home, and those final few days become administrative. You’re putting away files, cleaning the classroom, shutting off the lights before heading into summer break.
That’s kind of what we’ve been doing here at Bright Side as we say goodbye to the 2025-26 Suns. It was an unexpectedly fun season, and our view of the players on this roster changed over time.
That’s the purpose of SunsRank. To look at who these players were and who they became over the course of the year.
Before we reveal the complete community rankings, I wanted to take a moment to show how the Bright Side writing team viewed the roster by season’s end. Below are the rankings from our writers, along with some explanation as to why certain players landed higher or lower on individual ballots.
Take a few minutes and look through the rankings. You’ll probably find yourself agreeing with one writer more than another. You might question why someone had a player ranked too high or too low compared to your own list. That’s part of the fun.
To dig into that a little more, we did a small Q&A session with the writing team to better understand some of their rankings.
Brandon, you had the lowest ranking on Jalen Green, ranking him 6th. Why is he that low on your SunsRank?
Availability is the best ability. The bottom line is that Jalen Green only played in 32 games this season, and he had some very rough stretches as he worked his way back from injury. Do I think he is the sixth-best player? No. Do I think he had the sixth-best season? Yes. And even that feels like a stretch given the fact that he missed 50 games combined with the rough shooting stretches. His great play in the Play-In and Playoffs do not mask the overall body of work in the regular season for me.
Holden, you had the lowest ranking on Collin Gillespie, ranking him 7th. Why is he that low on your SunsRank?
Gillespie’s lack of efficiency and consistency at the end of the year and ability to play alongside Green and Booker rendered him to be less valuable for the team, and with his thin frame was a liability on defense when he wasn’t generating turnovers
Pano, you had the highest ranking on Mark Williams, ranking him 3rd. Why is he that high on your SunsRank?
Mark Williams’ 6.3 Win Shares reflect a real positive impact on the team’s overall success. With roughly a 57% win rate, his strong performances were often tied to team wins. His absences clearly hurt — not as much as Devin Booker or Dillon Brooks — but losing his size, length, and a reliable offensive option definitely affected the group. His presence would’ve been especially valuable against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that physically overwhelms a lot of opponents and completely crushed us in the Playoffs…
He also managed to stand out in an offensive system that wasn’t necessarily built for him in the first place, with its focus on three-point shooting and constant movement. As the team’s best rebounder, he was essential in Jordan Ott’s system, which constantly looks to generate extra possessions to make up for certain weaknesses. Alongside Jordan Goodwin, he was probably the player creating the most of that kind of invisible impact.
And above all, he played 60 games — a career high for him after never playing more than 44 in a season before. Even if he was occasionally managed carefully, he made himself available, stayed available, and remained consistent in both effort and impact for most of the year, even if, unfortunately, he wasn’t there against OKC.
Kevin, you had the highest ranking on Grayson, ranking him 3rd. Why is he that high on your SunsRank?
Behind Dillon Brooks and Devin Booker, no one was more important to the Suns’ offensive success this season than Grayson Allen. Despite ending the season in a shooting slump due to multiple nagging injuries, Allen’s floor spacing, passing, and physical driving ability allowed the Suns to generate the best ball movement and offensive pace when he was playing. He elevated his role this season from floor spacer to one of the Suns’ most reliable scorers as he averaged career highs at 16.5 points, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 3.3 free throw attempts per game.
Allen’s ability to oscillate between scorer, shooter, and connector, plus his physical strength, allows him to be an effective player in almost any lineup pairing offensively and survive on the defensive end of the floor.
Bruce, you had the highest ranking on Jordan Goodwin, ranking him 5th. Why is he that high on your SunsRank?
Jordan Goodwin showed me that even if he wasn’t in the starting lineup every night, he was one of 5 best players this year due to the hustle and heart he showed every night. Goodwin displayed the epitome of what Suns fans want to see on the court every game, and he deserves the credit for doing so.
Voita, you had the highest ranking on Khaman Maluach, ranking him 10th. Why is he that high on your SunsRank?
I’m looking at this through the lens of the word “best.” As I look over my rankings, I think Khaman Maluach stands out from an upside standpoint. He’s unique.
Sure, part of my ranking leans more into the future than what we saw this season. Maybe that’s my folly. I truly believe this kid has it. The motor is there. The physical tools are there. The desire to become great is there. And honestly, it’s going to be fun revisiting SunsRank in a couple of years when he’s sitting comfortably in the top five.
So yes, my ranking is rooted more in projection than current reality. I still don’t think it’s far off. Maybe Rasheer Fleming should’ve been 10 and Maluach 11. I can hear that argument. I still think he’s better than Ryan Dunn, Jamari Bouyea, Amir Coffey, and Haywood Highsmith when you view it through the lens of talent and possibility.
That’s why I had Maluach at 10.
So there you have it. Who got it right? Who got it wrong? When you sit down and actually go through the exercise of ranking the Phoenix Suns roster player by player, whose list lines up closest with your own.
Let us know in the comments below.
