Look. I am not the type of person who overreacts to every Summer League game. But Khaman Maluach may have temporarily lifted that thought process from me. He looked stronger, he looked more confident, his shot looked more fluid, and his movement looked more fluid. He looked too good for Summer League, which is exactly what you want to see from the 2025 lottery pick.
Here is the part that got my attention. This was not one loud night in Vegas that we can wave off as noise. Maluach put up a double-double
in every single game he played. Four games, four double-doubles.
He led the entire Summer League in rebounding and finished averaging 19.5 points, 12.8 boards, 2 blocks, and a steal and a half a night. Then he was voted onto the 2026 All-Summer League Second Team, the first Sun to earn that honor since 2021.
Hit the rewind button
Now rewind twelve months. Last summer, in his first crack at Summer League, Maluach went 1-for-6 from three in his opener and barely made a dent protecting the rim. This summer, he dropped a career-best 21 on the Bucks with four blocks and finished plus-18 in a win. That is a full rebuild of a game in one offseason. Weight room, footwork, touch, confidence, all of it, and he showed up looking like a different player.
Remember what we actually watched last season. Forty-six appearances. Three points a night. Barely saw the floor. He spent his rookie year as the third center on the roster, bouncing between the NBA bench and the Valley Suns, buried behind Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro. Phoenix drafted him as a project and treated him like one. Fair enough. He was 19 and raw. However, being the 10th overall pick in a strong draft comes with certain expectations, project or not.
The project is starting to look closer to coming into fruition in terms of being an impactful contributor.
Here is where I lose some of you. Phoenix just handed Mark Williams a three-year, $38 million guaranteed deal this summer. On paper, that is your starter. The front office has said all the right things too. No pressure on Maluach. Let him progress. Show growth. Brian Gregory basically said the minutes will work out over the course of the season. I hear all of that.
But re-signing Mark Williams and starting Mark Williams are two different conversations. Williams is a good player when he is on the floor. The trouble has always been keeping him on the floor. He has been dragging an injury history behind him for years, and a big man who cannot stay available is a starting job sitting there waiting to open up. Phoenix knows this. It is exactly why they kept four centers and why they protected Maluach’s timeline instead of forcing it. That runway does not vanish the second the kid outgrows it.
And that is the real case here. Forget the idea of handing a 20-year-old the keys on opening night just to make a statement. The honest question is who this team actually needs on the floor to start mattering again. The Suns went 45-37, snuck into the play-in, and got swept out of round one by OKC. This roster is retooling around youth, defense, and Miles Bridges. A rim-running, shot-blocking, floor-stretching center who just bullied an entire Summer League fits that direction cleaner than a hold-the-fort veteran does.
So how does this actually play out? I am not naive. Williams almost certainly starts game one. Jordan Ott gives the veteran the first look, and Maluach opens the year in the rotation, earning trust. But watch the trajectory. One Williams injury, one cold stretch, one week where Maluach’s motor and length are simply the better answer, and the depth chart flips. Once it flips, I do not see it flipping back.
The tell for me is his belief. Maluach does not carry himself like a kid hoping it works out. He talks about not wasting reps. He plays like he expects to win the matchup every trip down the floor. That is the part you cannot coach, and it is the part that turns a “project” into a starter faster than anyone plans for.
Call it a hunch. Call it Summer League fever if you want. I already told you I do not do this often.
But by the time we hit the meat of this season, Khaman Maluach is going to be the guy finishing games at center in Phoenix. Betting against that is going to look silly a whole lot sooner than people think.
