There are certain moments in an NBA season that grab you, the kind that pull you in and make you feel like the whole grind is worth it. Opening night. A Christmas game. A late-season matchup that could swing playoff seeding. The return of a familiar face. The debut of someone new. Those are the checkpoints that remind you where you are and why you care.
For the Phoenix crowd on Thursday night, two of those moments collide under one roof. The Los Angeles Clippers roll into the Mortgage Matchup Center
for a divisional clash, and with them comes the return of Bradley Beal as well as the debut of Jalen Green.
Beal spent two seasons in the Valley, a stretch that feels longer when you remember what those years were like. Two seasons. 106 games. 91 starts. 17.6 points a night on 50/40/81 splits. The numbers say he was solid. The payroll says otherwise. He earned $96.9 million across those two seasons, then collected another $96.1 million on his way out the door via buyout. That’s $193 million for two years of work, a figure that will forever echo in franchise conversations.
So as he steps back onto that floor, there’s no real venom for Beal himself. It’s what he came to represent. A costly chapter in a long book of missteps, one that fans are ready to move beyond.
Then there’s the flip side, the one that carries a little spark of promise. The debut of Jalen Green.
He’s listed as probable, set to make his first appearance in purple and orange since arriving from Houston this past June. The former No. 2 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft feels like the fresh page in a story that’s been begging for a new chapter. He’s 100 days shy of 24, filled with that kind of raw energy you can’t coach, built to attack the rim and collapse a defense before it even knows what hit it. People will say the headline tonight is Bradley Beal’s return, but for me, it’s the first look at Jalen Green that has my attention.
The start to this season has felt like a sputtering engine. The schedule hasn’t been kind, and the injuries haven’t helped. Green hasn’t played. Dillon Brooks has missed time. Mark Williams sat out a short stretch. The result is a team still waiting to see its true starting five share the floor. It’s not unique, not in today’s NBA, where health is a luxury few teams hold onto.
But even through all that, there’s been something admirable about this group. They fight. They claw. They drive hard to the rim, shoot with confidence from deep, and play defense with purpose. There’s grit here, the kind that gives you hope that once everything clicks, this team might be something worth believing in.
Enter Jalen Green.
What has me most curious as this new chapter begins with Jalen Green is how Jordan Ott decides to unleash him. It’s still early in Ott’s coaching journey, but I’ve been impressed with the way he’s handled this team. There’s thought behind every adjustment, every lineup tweak. He’s reading the room, feeling out the opponent, and shaping his plan on the fly. Some nights it works beautifully. Other nights, they’re buried 20 points deep before they start swinging back. But they do swing back.
So the question now becomes how Ott integrates a talent like Green. A guard who might pull the trigger on a few too many threes, but who fits perfectly with the team’s mission of attacking the rim with force. There’s something electric about that idea. The pace, the spacing, the chaos. Green gives Ott a new variable, a live wire in the system. And watching how he’s used — how he’s tested, how he stretches this offense — might be the most fascinating subplot of this young season.
Devin Booker has been on another level to start this season, playing the best opening stretch in franchise history. He’s in rare company right now, and he’s done it without a real running mate. No consistent second scorer to lean on. That’s what Jalen Green brings to the table.
Booker looked a little out of rhythm early, trying to figure out his spots, learning how to play off new teammates while still finding ways to set them up. Now, with Green in the mix, that calculus changes. Green can attack the rim, collapse a defense, and draw attention that frees up space for Booker to breathe. For a team that thrives on paint touches, adding a player built to live there feels like the missing link.
Booker’s gravity has already opened doors for everyone else. The Suns rank 2nd in the league in wide-open three-point attempts at 25.4 per game, hitting 37.4% of them. Now they add another player who can bend the defense in his own way, which means more open looks, more rhythm shots, and a more dangerous offense. The trick, as always, is whether the role players can capitalize.
When they do, nights start to look a lot like Tuesday against Golden State. It wasn’t Steph Curry or Jimmy Butler lighting the Suns up. It was the supporting cast, feasting on clean looks created by star gravity. That’s what Phoenix hopes to recreate with Booker and Green. Two players who can draw the defense, move the floor, and make life easier for everyone else.
Defensively, Jalen Green might be the most intriguing piece to watch as he settles into the rotation. He’s never been known for that side of the ball. According to B-Ball Index, his perimeter isolation defense last season in Houston graded out as a D+, and while he ranked in the 92nd percentile as an off-ball chaser, there were still plenty of lapses. He’s not the kind of guy you trust yet to lock someone down for 48 minutes.
But the tools are there. The athleticism is there. And this is where the influence of Jordan Ott’s system could show its value. If the practices have been sharp, if Green buys into his assignments and understands the rotations, there’s a real chance we see him turn a corner defensively. He doesn’t need to be an elite stopper, he just needs to stay connected, compete, and let his athleticism work for him.
The Suns have built a defensive identity on effort, communication, and trust. If Green taps into that, if he plays within the framework rather than freelancing, we might see a version of him that Houston never did — one that finally matches his physical gifts with purpose on both ends of the floor. It will take time, but looking for the mile markers will be part of the allure.
The debut of Jalen Green feels electric, the kind of moment that hums with possibility. His arrival adds another layer to a team that’s already full of intrigue. His success, though, runs deeper than the box score. It’s woven into the long-term fabric of the franchise. Who he becomes as a player could shape the front office’s decisions this season, influence the trade deadline, and even steer the course of next summer.
All of that starts tonight, under the lights in downtown Phoenix, when Green takes the floor against the Clippers and begins to write his first chapter in this new era. And where we bid adieu to the previous chapter, one filled with failed expectations, bloated contracts, and IDGAF energy.
