Analyst: Suns Need This Lineup

The Suns could roll out this outside-the-box lineup in 2024-25.

Apr 12, 2024; Sacramento, California, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen (8) and guard Devin Booker (1) and guard Bradley Beal (3) and forward Royce O'Neale (00) and forward Kevin Durant (35) huddle up before the final seconds of the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images / Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- The 2024-25 regular season is set to kick off approximately six weeks from now, and the Phoenix Suns will be ushering in preseason play under new head coach Mike Budenholzer in just about three weeks.

The roster is virtually completely built out, the starting five is likely to be what it is expected to be, and the rotation could be taking shape already.

Despite this, it is unclear what lineups will be the most effective until game action has come around - and one writer has just the idea for an unconventional lineup that could translate well on the court.

Dan Favale of Bleacher Report believes the most edgy lineup the Suns and coach Budenholzer can muster is what is listed below.

The Lineup: Devin Booker, Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale, Oso Ighodaro, Kevin Durant

This lineup is certainly unconventional, with two undersized players on the wing, Booker once again serving as the primary initiator, and Durant at the 5 - but Favale did a quality job elaborating on why this five-man arrangement could work:

Sliding Durant to the 5 is not a ridiculous move by the Phoenix Suns. He manned the middle last season for over 550 possessions, during which time the team, by and large, posted elite offensive returns to go along with suboptimal defensive results.

Remedying that may prove impossible. This arrangement attempts to shore up the defense in a way that makes the end product a little bizarre.

Keeping both Bradley Beal and Tyus Jones on the pine may backfire, particularly when it's in favor of a rookie, and when Durant-at-center combos were generally most potent last year when playing with both Beal and Booker.

We plow on anyway.

Booker, Durant and Allen should provide enough offense in the aggregate. Passing is a tad light in this group, but D-Book can make it work for stretches, and head coach Mike Budenholzer should definitely gauge Ighodaro's playmaking out of short rolls when he's surrounded by four shooters.

This fivesome doesn't lean all the way into defense. But Durant was frantically good at that end for, like, more than half of last season. O'Neale is scrappy. Allen held his own in an outsized role. Booker has a one-on-one switch he can flip. And so much of Ighodaro's appeal is staked in his positional malleability.

- Favale on potential Suns lineup

It could be very well true that leaving Beal and/or Jones out of this group could be a folly of the Suns, but the lineup would lose boldness and defensive versatility with a change such as that.

While Allen and O'Neale are undersized for the roles they'd be asked to take on defensively, both are switchable and scrappy - frequently playing bigger than their frames.

Durant has played some of the best defense of his career over his time in Phoenix - and he likely wouldn't have as much responsibility as the hover help with the versatile Ighodaro on the floor.

One could argue that Booker is both a slight negative defensively and has proven that being the table-setter isn't his optimal offensive role, but he is a vital part of virtually any of the most effecitve lineups the Suns can roll out.

Ultimately, it will be incredibly fascinating to see how the various rotational lineups are handled in the early stages of the season - and if Budenholzer will show more consistency compared to his predecessor.