Three Phoenix Suns Players Who Need To Breakout Next Season

The nearly 60 years of existence the Phoenix Suns have progressed through has taught the fanbase one thing - the franchise typically field good, even great teams on a year-by-year basis, but not quite strong enough to capture an elusive NBA title. 

The fortunes don't appear to be changing anytime soon, as the organization is still being hamstrung by being stripped of assets that were parted with to acquire Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and others - however there is a youth movement taking shape that does invite room to be optimistic. 

The growth that the three players named below show over the next several months will be instrumental to the future championship aspirations that Mat Ihsbia, Brian Gregory, and the remainder of the organization hold. 

Rasheer Fleming is already positioned to be one of the steals of the 2025 draft. The 31st pick from last June played in 55 games during his rookie season for the Suns, displaying an intriguing blend of interior defensive presence/physicality, an ability to be a connector on the offensive side of the ball, and a corner three-ball - all three of these elicited comparisons to early-career Kawhi Leonard to a certain degree. 

Fleming's growth will be extra magnified over the next year, especially under the premise of the Suns making a soon-to-be completed trade for Miles Bridges. The Saint Joseph's wing was previously expected to compete for a starting role, but this is not the case any longer. Still, he can absolutely take a jump as a sophomore behind more consistent minutes and while facing better injury luck.

Khaman Maluach is perhaps the most consequential player on the Suns' roster - at least as far as determining the future of the franchise goes. The Duke product was one of three centerpieces in the July 2025 trade between the Suns and the Houston Rockets that sent Kevin Durant to Houston, with Maluach being a rare first-round selection opportunity for Phoenix. 

Maluach's raw talent jumped off the page when starting in all 39 games he played during his time at Duke, but there were areas of his game that were always brought into question - including being an inconsistent rebounder and holding an underdeveloped post game. 

Maluach did show marked growth as a rookie (particularly for the Valley Suns), with the hope being that the 7'2" center will be able to hold a consistent role for the NBA squad this season. The one thing that is certain here is that pressure is mounting for the 10th overall pick to begin demonstrating a payoff for the faith that the Phoenix front office put in his ceiling.

Jalen Green is still an absolute enigma heading into year 6 in the NBA. The second overall pick in the 2021 draft has spent years in a similar cycle - stacking up incredible scoring performances in small samples, while surrounding the high-end play with head-scratching performances and a frustrating lack of growth all-around. 

Green put forth much of the same during the 2025-26 season, although he was hampered by a hamstring injury that lingered for roughly three months of the campaign.

There were enough high-end performances to believe that Green will finally put everything together in the best way during the upcoming campaign, but the clock is certainly ticking as well. The Suns must decide if Green is an integral piece to the future of the team, or if he is an expendable trade-bait piece over the next several months.

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Kevin Hicks is a contributing writer to SunsRoundtable. He can be reached on X @khicks_21.