How Suns Can Shake Up Rotation

Phoenix needs to change things up coming out of the All-Star break.

Feb 8, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Tyus Jones (21) dribbles against the Denver Nuggets during the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns are at a pretty gloomy spot with the All-Star break about to come to a close.

Despite having the highest payroll in NBA history, the Suns hold a 26-28 record (11th in Western Conference) and have the toughest remaining strength of schedule in the league.

Phoenix also did not have any major upgrades to its roster before the trade deadline. The Suns added Nick Richards, Cody Martin and Vasa Micic from the Hornets and traded away Jusuf Nurkic, who was benched earlier in the season, and Josh Okogie to Charlotte in two separate trades.

So, the Suns are stuck with pretty much the same rotation since trading for Richards, their new starting center, on Jan. 15 and will need to rely on internal changes to hope to get the season back on track.

The most obvious changes the Suns can make for the rest of the season are either adding a buyout candidate or switching up the rotation.

In terms of the buyout market, Phoenix has 15 players on standard contracts so someone would have to be waived for a buyout player to be signed, and there are hardly any that would significantly upgrade the roster.

With that said, rotation changes seem like they flat out have to be made for the Suns to potentially change their season around.

Coach Mike Budenholzer has already made some notable changes, removing Bradley Beal from the starting lineup in early January (and Nurkic too) and most recently moving Bol Bol into the starting lineup the last two games after he hardly saw any minutes until this month.

Here are three options for rotation changes the Suns could consider coming out of the break:

1. Removing Tyus Jones from Starting Lineup

The Suns have been very loyal to their promise of keeping Jones as a starter, which is a huge reason why he signed a veteran minimum deal to come to Phoenix in the offseason.

His ability to set the table offensively and not turn the ball over has been good in spurts, but teams pick on him way too much defensively and his role offensively, whether it be primarily on the ball or off the ball, changes too much game to game.

Removing Jones from the starting lineup and trying another alternative seems like an obvious choice by now in hopes to see if something else works.

Book + Tyus Jones, no KD: -9.9 net rating (528 min)

KD + Tyus Jones, no Book: -12.4 net rating (298 min)

All 3 together: +1.9 net rating (668 min)

KD + Book, NO TYUS JONES: +6.8 net rating (269 min)

— Sam Cooper (@scooperhoops) February 13, 2025

If the Suns do remove Jones from the starting lineup, there would then be essentially two starting spots up for grabs with the fifth starting spot (most recently Bol's) rotating all season between Beal, Ryan Dunn, Bol and Royce O'Neale.

The obvious candidate to move back into the starting lineup is Beal, which could work with Bol in the lineup, but would limit the offensive production off the bench and defense of the starting unit.

If Budenholzer wants Beal to keep coming off the bench and Bol in the starting 5, O'Neale or Dunn makes the most sense to fill Jones' spot, but starting Dunn next to Bol would also make the bench unit pretty small.

With all this said, either a combination of Beal/Dunn, Bol/O'Neale or O'Neale/Dunn should start alongside Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Nick Richards.

2. Playing Mason Plumlee Less Minutes

Plumlee was another veteran minimum addition for the Suns over the summer and the soon-to-be 35 year old has played heavy minutes since Nurkic's benching even with the acquisition of Richards.

Since trading for Richards, Plumlee moved to the bench, but the Sunss have used him to close out several games with Budenholzer saying it's sometimes a gut decision and because he's more familiar with the offense.

Plumlee's inability to make shots in the paint and inconsistencies across the board make it hard to vouch for him to play these stretch minutes.

More than a month into his Suns tenure, Richards should be the closer over Plumlee now, or the Suns could go small with Durant at the 5.

Having said this, the Suns are still really limited with their bigs and it has affected them defensively and with rebounding.

Phoenix is 25th in the NBA with a 115.6 defensive rating. The Suns also allow the most offensive rebounds per game in the NBA at 12.4, including 14.6 per game since Jan. 1 (22 games).

The other options at center for the Suns are rookie Oso Ighodaro, who has shown flashes with his playmaking and switching on defense, but struggles with rebounding and drop coverage, and Bol, who is not a true center despite his 7-foot-3 height because he doesn't offer the same physicality as bigs across the league.

At this point, Plumlee still needs spot minutes against teams with good backup big men, but playing small ball with either Durant at the 5 or Bol at the 5 after Richards should be as much of an option for Phoenix to experiment with moving forward.

3. Playing Ryan Dunn More Minutes

Dunn started for Beal when he first was benched and played pretty well. However, his minutes significantly decreased after suffering an ankle injury on Jan. 25 against the Washington Wizards.

Since the injury, Dunn has not played more than 20 minutes in any of the last 10 games.

However, he was a huge standout during All-Star Weekend, and his play there exemplified exactly what he has brought to the Suns in several stretches this season--the ability to be an elite defender and knock down catch-and-shoot 3-pointers.

After the All-Star Game Sunday, Dunn said his ankle "feels good" now. He added he was headed back to Phoenix to get some treatment before the Suns start a four-game road trip on Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs in a special game at the University of Texas.

Now, Dunn should be in heavy consideration to return to the starting lineup or play at least 20 minutes off the bench every night.

Proposed Rotation

With all this said, here is the Suns' new proposed rotation when fully healthy:

Starters:

Bradley Beal

Devin Booker

Ryan Dunn

Kevin Durant

Nick Richards

Bench:

Tyus Jones

Grayson Allen

Royce O'Neale

Bol Bol

Mason Plumlee (as needed)