Can the Suns' 'Big 3' round into shape for the postseason?

Kelly IkoWed, April 8, 2026 at 8:22 AM UTC

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PHOENIX — On the morning of the much-needed Suns-Rockets reunion in the desert, the scene at Verizon 5G Performance Center largely mirrored the current state of affairs. Jalen Green was stationed at the far east corner of the gym, working on live reads with the help of a teammate and assistant. Superstar guard Devin Booker could be seen at the opposite end of the floor, operating out of the mid-post with another assistant. Dillon Brooks, who recently returned from a broken left hand, had already left for the day.

It was a brief but adequate depiction of the Suns’ stop-start season, an injury-riddled campaign that has limited Phoenix’s three best players to just 102 minutes together heading into Tuesday night. With just three games remaining in the regular season, the lack of continuity hasn’t exactly been a deterrent — Suns head coach Jordan Ott has done a quality job making lemonade out of an assortment of lemons — but there are still wrinkles to iron out ahead of the postseason.

“Game reps are obviously the most important piece to it all,” Ott said following Phoenix’s 119-105 loss to Houston on Tuesday night. “Thankfully Dillon and Jalen have played together, and at times, two of the three have played together. I think that’s the unique challenge, all three of them out there at the same time. But we’ve talked about it, we’ve practiced as much as we can practice. We always try to keep those guys [together] just to get the extra reps together. Continue to look at it and we gotta speed it up.”

(Tuesday night was basketball’s version of Inglourious Basterds, equal parts aggression and comedy. It’s clear that there’s no love lost between the two franchises, but between Green’s and Amen Thompson’s brotherly tension, Brooks’ and Kevin Durant’s enjoyable back-and-forth, and the sheer physicality from both sides, it was a necessary game. The Rockets needed a reminder of the brand of ball they used to brandish, and the Suns needed a wake-up call as to what’s in store. Houston had 24 offensive rebounds for goodness sake, scoring 37 points off said second-chance opportunities and eliminating a 21-point first-half deficit in the process.)

Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns handles the ball against Aaron Holiday of the Houston Rockets during the second half on April 7, 2026, in Phoenix. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) (Christian Petersen via Getty Images)

Understanding the Suns’ “struggles” (perhaps too harsh a word) incorporating their three-headed monster requires the context of both what has presented itself and also how well other lineups have played. Phoenix, up until this point, has essentially played teams to a net neutral when Green, Brooks and Booker share the floor, being outscored by one point in 219 possessions together, according to PBP Stats. They aren’t dominating opponents in the way that might have been hoped or expected at the outset, but not overwhelmingly losing those minutes, either. (It’s a testament to Ott, as previously mentioned, that Phoenix is actually outpacing teams by nearly six points per 100 possessions when all three are off the floor.)

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Following the game, Ott maintained the stance that his team, while knowingly ineffective on the defensive glass, tends to find other ways to win the possession battle. There were a plethora of warning signs going up against a large, physical Rockets team while committing to deploying smaller, quicker lineups — with Brooks or Royce O’Neale at the four — but the playoffs are a much more complex process than an early April game. The Suns remain one of the league’s most prominent offensive rebounding units since the All-Star break, grabbing the third-most boards in the NBA and continuing to excel in their transition defense. They understand their length limits threats as they send multiple bodies back, allowing just 1.09 points per chance, which ranks fifth in the league. More players sprinting back also means more opportunities to set up defensively and force turnovers — which makes sense given that the Suns are fifth in opponent transition turnover rate.

Still, having Brooks, Booker and Green requires a certain order of operation, maintaining a healthy shot and usage circulation while embracing the learning chemistry curve. Ott’s lineup against Houston — with Mark Williams and Jordan Goodwin as additives — has played at a breakneck 114.98 pace over 17 minutes this season. It’s an extremely small sample size, but an important one. The Suns coughed up the ball a whopping 19 times Tuesday, a good chunk of them live-ball turnovers. Playing at extremely high speeds — the Miami Heat, for context, lead the NBA in pace at nearly 10 possessions fewer — tends to lead to mistakes. When those three have been on the floor, nearly half of their turnovers are of the live-ball family.

Phoenix needs more possessions like these over the next three games, simple sets that afford all three being involved. The play below incorporates Green’s initiation, Booker’s gravity and Brooks’ improved shot-making, ultimately maximizing the Suns’ spacing to generate a high-quality look.

But all roads, even in losses, lead back to Booker. The star guard led all players in scoring with 31 points on 7-for-16 shooting, including an efficient 15-of-16 from the charity stripe. Booker is the straw that stirs Ott’s drink, a blend of high-usage, high-efficiency centripetal force that consistently puts pressure on opposing defenses. Booker is among the top 25 in both points and assists per game, has further leaned into his driving ability and gravity — sixth in frequency since the break — and is still a top-40-ish player by most advanced metric models. Surrounding Booker with shooters and mobile bigs has worked thus far; Phoenix is top five in 3-point rate and makes, and top 10 in conversion rate — and it’s no surprise the Suns are six points better per 100 possessions when Booker’s on the floor.

In the playoffs, however, teams will certainly load up on Booker and force the Suns to take advantage of 4-on-3 possessions. This is a strong, confident Phoenix group backed by a top 10-defense, an abundance of pace and space, elite shooting, skilled bigs and an architect in Ott that is just now getting his best tools together. Their dreams of escaping the play-In have been vanquished, but getting their Big 3 on the same page — and quickly — is the next most important item on the agenda. Sometimes the simplest answer is the most obvious.

“We are trying to get better and be perfect for 48 minutes, so that has been our focus for the last few weeks,” Grayson Allen said. “Not looking ahead but thinking ahead and thinking ahead on what we are prepared for and that is the postseason. It will be the same thing these last few games, try and put perfect stretches together.”

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Source: “AOL Sports”