The Suns became the first of this year’s 16 playoff teams to be eliminated from the postseason, falling at home on Monday as the defending champion Thunder completed a four-game sweep. It was the third straight conference quarterfinal sweep for Oklahoma City, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN, who notes that the team is 12-0 in first-round games under head coach Mark Daigneault.
How should the Suns feel about their season? As Doug Haller of The Athletic writes, the team lost momentum in the second half, posting a record of 16-23 after February 1 (including play-in and playoff games). However, injuries played a part in that slide, and Phoenix’s performance in the first three months of the season far exceeded outside expectations for the club entering the fall. The Suns’ over/under was set at 31.5 wins and they finished 45-37.
“We were counted out,” forward Dillon Brooks said on Monday. “We were supposed to be a laughing-stock, losing team. And we proved a lot of people wrong.”
The general consensus among Suns players and coaches is that their 2025/26 performance represents a positive first step, with head coach Jordan Ott suggesting his team “should be proud” of what it accomplished, per Haller. Still, after Phoenix needed two games to advance through the play-in tournament and then didn’t register a win in the playoffs, star guard Devin Booker was disappointed the club couldn’t do a little more this spring.
“We exceeded everybody else’s expectation, but not ours,” he said.
Here’s more on the Suns:
- Ott earned praise from Suns players after Monday’s loss for the work he did and the foundation he set in Phoenix during his first year on the job, per Shane Young of Suns.com (Twitter link). “This is a building block to some stability and chemistry,” Booker said. “Something that’s been needed around here.”
- Booker didn’t score more than 24 points in any of the four playoff games vs. Oklahoma City and made just 5-of-20 (25.0%) of his three-pointers. While scoring against the Thunder’s league-best defense is no easy task, Haller of The Athletic notes that Booker no longer seems as capable of flipping the “alpha switch” as he once was, while Gerald Bourget of Suns After Dark evaluates the upside of Phoenix’s roster as long as the veteran guard is their leading man.
- After signing a one-year, minimum-salary contract to remain in Phoenix last offseason, guard Collin Gillespie enjoyed a breakout year, with career highs in points (12.7), assists (4.6), and rebounds (4.1) per game across 80 appearances (58 starts). Gillespie’s confidence is soaring as he prepares to reenter free agency, he told Logan Stanley of The Arizona Republic. “I learned a lot. I learned that I can play at a high level and that I belong,” Gillespie said. “I learned a lot, especially here in the playoffs, about championship-level stuff, playing a really good basketball team — the details in that.” Gillespie added that he hopes to remain with the Suns and said he and the team have had “good conversations” about that possibility.
- Besides negotiating a new deal with Gillespie, the Suns will also have to see if they can re-sign guard Jordan Goodwin and center Mark Williams, ESPN’s Bobby Marks writes within a preview of the team’s upcoming offseason. Brooks will also be entering the final year of his current contract and will be eligible to sign an extension that could be worth up to a maximum of $125.4MM over four seasons.
- A discrimination lawsuit filed against the Suns by former security employee Gene Traylor has been dismissed with prejudice. Baxter Holmes of ESPN has the story.
Exactly why I did not care if the warriors lose to the Suns in the play in game. OKC is just too good to get knocked off in the first round. The bench is deep and can survive any injury. warriors would have been swept just like the Suns. OKC and Spurs will be in the WCF.
True, there’s a big difference between facing a Rockets team in the 1st rd and OKC with their patented ref help. SGA avgd 12.25 ftas/gm vs the Suns and made an avg of 11 of them.
He avgd 33.75 ppg, so he gets ~ one third of his scoring from free throws.
Bro Laker shoot just as many free throws. Y’all gotta stop this. The rockets aren’t good. They wouldhave gotten swept by OKC and San Antonio. Only true contenders in the west are OKC, San Antonio and one of Denver/ Minny. With injuries wolves are pretty much done. Denver won’t match up well with OKC.
In the East. New York can come out the east but will lose 4-1 to OKC. Boston could come out the east but they might lose 4-2 to OKC.
OKC, San Antonio, Boston, new York are the 4 teams.
Orlando probably loses to new York although new York could give 1 or 2 games away and lose the series.
I was talking to arc about GSW beating the Rockets as the 7 seed last season compared to if they had ended up playing OKC as the 8 seed.
OKC has avgd 24.75 ftas/gm (99 total ftas) with Shai leading the playoffs in both ftas and ftm. The Lakers (as usual) have shot more, but without the 8 they shot in OT in the Rockets’ meltdown loss it would have been the exact same 99 total free throws.
The Spurs should beat OKC as long as no one gets hurt. What’s yout prediction vs the east if they make the Finals?
OKC or Spurs are the only teams capable of winning against the NBA refs. SGA is averaging 15 flops per game. Nobody can compete with that.