SunsRank continues as we look at the Phoenix Suns roster in its entirety and try to determine the team’s hierarchy. It is an exercise I always enjoy because it captures exactly how we feel at a specific point in time. Right now, that point is September. Hope is still alive. Possibility is everywhere. We can talk ourselves into players, rotations, roles, and outcomes before reality gets its filthy little hands on everything.
Then we do this again at the end of the season and see how much has changed.
Players change. We change. Expectations change. Perceptions change. Right now, we are full of hope. Based on our experiences with the Phoenix Suns, there is a decent chance we will end the season carrying some level of disappointment. Watching that curve develop is always interesting. Who rose? Who fell? Who surprised us? Who was responsible for the shift?
In our last installment, we dealt with the Depth Pieces. Based on the voting, here is where we currently stand.
There are a couple of interesting things you can take away from both the community rankings and the writers’ rankings. The first is that the writers value Jamaree Bouyea more than the community does. Perhaps that’s the shine of a new toy that Pat Spencer brings, knowing he possesses a defensive mentality that makes him a little more appealing to the community.
What I find more interesting, though, is that Koby Brea ranks 18th overall. In one summer, he dropped from 15th to 18th. That’s understandable considering two players are no longer on the team, but he was also jumped by CJ Huntley, who finished 18th in SunsRank at the end of last season. Perhaps that’s a result of the unimpressive Summer League Brea had in Las Vegas. Across five games and 26.1 minutes per game, he averaged 7.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. More concerning was the shooting, as he hit 30% from the field and 28.6% from beyond the arc.
For someone whose superpower is supposed to be shooting, that certainly wasn’t encouraging, and it most likely played into why both the community and the writers have him slotted last in the preseason SunsRank.
Now it is time to rank the Wild Cards. These are the players who could become more important than expected. There is no guarantee they carve out a major role, but there is enough intrigue, talent, or opportunity for them to surprise us and force their way into the rotation. These are the fringe guys carrying a little bit of hope with them. And where there is hope, there is possibility.
So let us continue the SunsRank journey and meet the Wild Cards, based on your previous voting and who ultimately landed in this tier.
The Wild Cards
Haywood Highsmith
Highsmith is a true wild card because we still don’t really know what he can bring or where his health currently stands. After undergoing surgery in August 2025 to repair a meniscal tear in his right knee, he played only seven games with the Suns last season.
There’s optimism that the three-and-D wing can make an impact, but so much of that depends on whether he can stay healthy.
Khaman Maluach
It’s funny because when I look back at the stat line and see that Maluach played 46 games last season, it doesn’t really feel like he did. The hope is that he gets much more run this season, and the expectation is that he should. The second-year center, who turns 20 in less than 10 days, is expected to be an integral part of the Suns’ future.
Unlike Koby Brea, Maluach had a stellar Summer League and absolutely dominated. In 27.4 minutes per game, he averaged 19.5 points and 12.8 rebounds while shooting 40% from three. He was a force. But that was Summer League. What he does next, and how much opportunity he receives this season, will be one of the more interesting storylines to follow.
Koa Peat
We spent all last season wondering how the hell the Suns were going to navigate not having a first-round pick, and Brian Gregory worked his magic to sneak into the back end of the first round and select Koa Peat, the local kid who went to high school in Phoenix and played at the University of Arizona.
Peat had a productive Summer League, averaging 16.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.4 steals while shooting 51% from the field in Las Vegas. It gave us a glimpse of what he could potentially become: someone who is confident with the ball in his hands and has no problem attacking the rim. It was an impressive summer for the 19-year-old.
How much playing time he gets this season remains to be seen, and that will depend on a multitude of factors, including team health and scheme.
Luke Kennard
The Suns lost shooting when they traded away Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, but the outgoing salary in the Miles Bridges deal opened the door for Phoenix to enter free agency and replace some of it. What they found was one of the best three-point shooters in the league.
Kennard shot 47.8% from beyond the arc last season. The challenge with him has always been volume. He doesn’t take nearly as many threes as O’Neale or Allen did, and that will probably have to change in Phoenix, especially considering how much this team will need help from deep. But if shooting is what you need, there are few players better equipped to provide it than Luke Kennard.
Rasheer Fleming
The second year forward out of Saint Joseph’s enters the season with high expectations after being productive in the limited opportunities he received as a rookie. Yes, the stat sheet says 55 games played, but his 12.2 minutes per game show that the Suns didn’t use him as often as some might have wanted.
You would think Fleming enters this season as the second option on the depth chart, but until the games are played, we don’t really know how much opportunity he’s going to get. Then it becomes about what he does with it. Can he continue to be a quality defender? Can he become a knockdown shooter from beyond the arc? There are plenty of things he already does well. Does his game grow or plateau?
Ryan Dunn
Ryan Dunn enters the season as one of the more interesting players on this roster. Why? He’ll make $2.9 million this year, but Phoenix holds a $5 million team option for next season. With extensions continuing to come due and roster decisions needing to be made, Dunn’s contract could become expendable if he doesn’t prove his value.
There wasn’t a major jump from Year 1 to Year 2, so the hope is that his third season finally brings the productivity and two-way impact the Suns envisioned when they drafted him in the first round out of Virginia.
Ready to rank these Wild Cards? Rank them as you see fit, and let us know in the comments below why you put each player where you did.
