Welcome to our Phoenix Suns Season in Review series, where we revisit every player who suited up during the 2025–26 campaign through the lens of expectation, reality, and what it ultimately meant.
Player Snapshot
- Position: PF
- Age: 21
- 2026-27 Contract Status: $2.2 million
- SunsRank (Preseason): 14
- SunsRank (Postseason): 10
*SunsRank is based on Bright Side writers’ ranking.
Season in One Sentence
Despite limited minutes, the rookie forward showcased the 3-and-D potential Phoenix has desperately lacked.
By the Numbers
The Expectation
After a Summer League in which Rasheer Fleming looked pretty lost on the court, preseason expectations weren’t very high. He was a rookie, and despite
having size, the roster was filled with veterans. There wasn’t much expectation that major minutes would be coming his way.
The Reality
As the season progressed, expectations changed. For the team and for Fleming himself. He showed flashes of a true 3-and-D forward, someone who could consistently knock down the corner three and use that condor-like wingspan to create disruption defensively. Were there mistakes? Absolutely. Every rookie has them, especially second round picks.
The potential showed up every time he touched the floor. As the year moved along, the decision-making improved. His spacing improved. His understanding of where to be on the court improved. It improved enough that the fan base started beating the drum for more minutes because the impact was visible.
Then the minutes started to fade. After averaging 19.1 minutes in March, Jordan Ott played him 11.8 minutes in April (if you don’t count the final game of the season, when we received his only start of the year, played 38 minutes, and went for 16 and 6). Fleming played just 18 minutes in the First Round sweep at the hands of the Thunder, but even in his limited time, he made an impact.
What It Means
There’s no doubt I have a bias toward Rasheer Fleming. I love the prospect, I love the idea of him, and I love how he carries himself.
He fills a lot of the roster needs this team currently has, and I carry a level of hope — almost faith — that he can fulfill that promise and become a solid starting power forward in this league. I see his ceiling higher than Ryan Dunn, who I view as more of a rotational piece.
Fleming has the physical tools to start in the NBA. The questions are straightforward. How impactful can he be defensively? How reliable is the three-point shot? How effective can he become as the minutes increase?
That’s what made his rookie season such a conundrum. The flashes were there. The consistent runway wasn’t. It felt like the three-guard lineup became a roadblock at times. As we head into the offseason, with the organization fully leaning into development, Fleming feels like one of the biggest candidates to benefit from a sophomore leap.
Defining Moment
His defining moment came against the Toronto Raptors in a March game I watched while at a wedding. He checked into the game and gave us 40 seconds of pure dominance. That stretch felt like the inflection point, the moment expectations started to shift relative to what he could become within this organization. There were flashes before that, sure. This was the moment.
If you’d like some more Rasheer Fleming highlights to chomp on, I got you.
Grade: B
It’s hard for me to grade Rasheer Fleming because I know my bias exists. I’d give his season a B simply because he was never really given the opportunity to earn an A. The runway wasn’t there. The minutes weren’t there. He wasn’t allowed to consistently play, develop, and learn the way many of us hoped he would. 673 minutes wasn’t enough, at least not for me.
