Yep. The season is here. Yesterday, the Bright Side crew was on the ground for Media Day. We’ll have more to say about that as the week unfolds. Today, though, training camp opens. From here, the rhythm shifts into something daily. Sound bites will start to flow, patterns will begin to form, and we’ll gain the first hints of what this group might actually be.
This is the year the Suns have to walk the talk. We’ve heard an ocean of it since April, when the last version of this team collapsed under
its own weight and left nothing but the acrid smoke of failure in its wake. Mat Ishbia tore it all down. A new general manager. A new head coach. A new system. Fourteen new players, younger and hungrier than what came before. With that came the buzzwords, sharp enough to cut glass: vision, alignment, identity. But training camp is where those words either grow legs or die on the page.
And camp will be more than diagrams on whiteboards or bullet points in press releases. It’s where bodies collide, chemistry sparks or fizzles, and the early shape of a season comes into focus. As Phoenix prepares for its first preseason game on October 3, here are three things worth watching as the work finally begins.
The backup to the backup point guard battle
The Phoenix Suns brought in two players to battle for a single chair, and the music is about to start.
Point guard depth is thin, with Devin Booker and Jalen Green expected to shoulder the load in the starting lineup while third-year guard Collin Gillespie holds steady in reserve. That leaves one spot to be claimed, and both Jordan Goodwin and Jared Butler are circling it with intent.
Butler arrives on a training camp and Exhibit 10 deal, a prove-it opportunity carved out of hustle and hope. Goodwin, familiar to Suns fans, carries a non-guaranteed contract that locks in come January, a reminder that his foothold is as precarious as it is promising. This is the essence of training camp: competition stripped down to its core, two guards scrapping to show they belong.
Butler turned a sliver of opportunity into production in Philadelphia last season, thriving when injuries forced the rotation open. Goodwin, meanwhile, has already worn the Phoenix jersey, though on a roster that now feels like a distant memory.
The slate has been wiped clean, and the fight is live once again.
Who earns the power forward position?
The power forward spot has been a source of endless chatter all offseason, and if you ask the community, Ryan Dunn is already penciled in as the solution. But fan belief and coaching reality are often two very different things. The Suns enter camp with a handful of options, each carrying a unique pitch to the role.
Nigel Hayes-Davis may be the sleeper. His Media Day presence was impressive. He was measured and cerebral, the tone of a player who understands the game beyond the stat sheet. Add in a steady three-point stroke, and suddenly, you have someone who can slide into the first unit and keep the offense humming.
Then there’s Dunn. Entering his second year, he carries the defensive calling card that makes him attractive. The question is whether the offensive gaps, most notably his perimeter shot, have begun to close. Defense alone can get you on the floor, but to stay there, especially next to Booker and Green, you need to punish teams that sag off.
The rookie Rasheer Fleming brings intrigue as a developmental piece, raw but brimming with potential. And let’s not overlook the small-ball card in Dillon Brooks, who could change the geometry of the floor if the Suns choose to go that direction.
Each of these players has a case to make. The job is open, the competition real, and the answer, whatever it is, will help shape Phoenix’s identity moving into the season.
The development of the rookie class
From the wide-angle lens, perhaps the most vital storyline of the Suns’ season isn’t about rotations or schemes, but about development. Specifically, how do you bring the rookies along? There are four of them on the roster, though two are tied to two-way contracts. Labels aside, the organization made a conscious investment in youth, and now the task is to nurture it with intention.
Training camp is the first proving ground. This is where the rookies begin to absorb the pace, the language, the physicality of the NBA. It’s also where the Suns can be deliberate in shaping their growth, smart with minutes, strategic with matchups, thoughtful with roles. What matters is less about immediate production and more about the foundation being poured beneath them.
Equally important is listening.
How do the rookies talk about the game? How do they frame the challenge? What slips out in the post-practice interviews that hints at their mentality? That’s the early litmus test. It tells you how they’re processing, how they’re adapting, and whether the steep climb ahead excites them or overwhelms them. And that, as much as anything, will shape how Phoenix’s youth movement takes root.
That’s right. Basketball season is back, baby. The long summer lull is over, and the noise of the game is rising again.
Stay locked in with Bright Side of the Sun as we sift through the flood of quotes, track the growth of this roster, and keep a close eye on the position battles that will shape Training Camp 2025. The story of the season is beginning to write itself, and we’ll be here for every line.
