One Phoenix Suns Stat Should Worry Fans About New Starting Lineup

The 2026-27 season is quickly approaching for the Phoenix Suns, with roughly three months remaining until the regular season will officially get underway.

The hope is that the organization can expand upon a 45-win campaign in 2025-26 that defied expectations without creating a false sense that the team will seriously contend for a title - although skepticism exists in the thought that Phoenix can improve on the benchmark that was set.

One of the major concerns that has become a resounding theme with the freshly constructed roster is an immediate downtick in three-point shooting production that coincides with the departures of Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale - two of the most productive volume shooters in the entire NBA.

Kellan Olson of Arizona Sports summed up the three-point discrepancies that are already showing up on paper in a conspicuous manner before the season even begins

"Since (Miles) Bridges came into the league in 2018, there have been 104 players to take at least 2,000 3-pointers over that time. Bridges’ 3P% is 97th (33.8%) out of those 104 players. Green’s is 95th (33.9%), Booker’s is 91st (34.8%) and Brooks’ is 85th (35.3%)."

Phoenix GM Brian Gregory caught heat for trading away O'Neale and Allen for Bridges - who doesn't have the cleanest path to translating to the Suns' offense at the surface. While O'Neale and Allen were both major negatives when sharing the court last season, the shooting trade-off is something that simply can't be ignored.

How is Phoenix going to boast a top-12 three-point efficiency mark with the same volume when the best shooters on the team are coming off of the bench? How is recent acquisition Luke Kennard in a position to boost his volume from behind the arc when his career arc has never pointed to this being a reality? Are any of the "big four" mentioned above going to be able to boost their efficiency in the season ahead?

The numerous questions surrounding this conundrum will be answered in time, but John Voita of Bright Side of the Sun put things into perspective to demonstrate that efficiency upswings are attainable.

Booker's mark of 33.0% from behind the arc last season is below-average in the league, but he was just 15 makes away from upping the overall mark to 37% - a drastic difference in raw numbers that could have lifted Phoenix's win total to even greater heights. Perhaps the cleanest way to attain this tweak is to encourage more catch-and-shoot attempts, as Booker has frequently shot sub-30 percent on pull-ups in recent seasons.

Brooks, Green, and Bridges will very likely continue to be volatile in this lane, however the ceiling that each provide is enough to inspire confidence that the team can remain in the same range of what made them a quality shooting team in Jordan Ott's first season as head coach. 

The ultimate outcome of this experiment is still to be determined - there is a path to figuring the big picture out over the next several months, but the current arrangement absolutely doesn't come question-free either.