The 2025–26 Phoenix Suns season was the 58th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as their 33rd season at the Mortgage Matchup Center. It is also their third full season under the ownership group led by Mat Ishbia and Justin Ishbia after the brothers purchased the team on February 8, 2023. This is the first time since the 2021–22 season that the Suns did not play on Christmas Day.
On April 14, 2025, just a day after their disappointing season ended, the Suns fired head coach, Mike Budenholzer after only one year with the team, despite his five-year, $50 million contract. This decision was made after the team's poor performance that previous season. On May 1, the Suns promoted Brian Gregory, formerly the vice president of player programming and veteran college basketball coach, to general manager. James Jones transitioned to a senior advisor role before being appointed as the NBA's Executive Vice President and Head of Basketball Operations on July 9, succeeding Joe Dumars. On June 6, Phoenix hired Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Jordan Ott as head coach, signing him to a four-year contract. On July 6, the Suns completed a record-breaking seven-team trade that sent Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets and brought in Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft, Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, Koby Brea, and future second-round picks in 2026 and 2032 from Houston. On July 16, the Suns and Bradley Beal reached an agreement on a contract buyout, with the team applying the stretch provision to his remaining $90 million guaranteed salary.
Despite trading away Kevin Durant and waiving Bradley Beal (which led to many predictions on the team performing poorly this season), the Suns would end up exceeding these lower expectations held upon them this season. The Suns also qualified as a wildcard in the 2025 NBA Cup, clinching the spot over the Memphis Grizzlies via a higher point differential after both teams placed second in their respective groups with identical 3–1 group stage record, but were eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Cup quarterfinals. With a 129–114 road victory on March 10, 2026 against the Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix would exceed the win total they had from their previous season. Weeks later, on March 30, a 131–105 blowout victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on the road would see the Suns have an above-average season for the fourth time in the past five seasons. However, due in part to serious injury issues that happened back in February up until the end of the season, the Suns failed to avoid participating in the Play-In Tournament for this season despite their 45–37 for what could normally be considered a 7th place finish in the Western Conference.
Although they lost to the 8th-placed Portland Trail Blazers in the first stage of the play-in tournament, the Suns clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2024 by defeating the Golden State Warriors in the elimination game of the NBA play-in tournament on April 17. They qualified as the 8th seed, but were swept by the defending champion top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, who did so in the same round for the second time in three seasons.
Offseason Coaching staff changes One day after the conclusion of the Suns' disappointing season, on April 14, head coach Mike Budenholzer was fired despite having four years and approximately $40 million remaining on his contract. His dismissal mirrored that of his predecessor, Frank Vogel, as the organization cited the team's underperformance as a primary factor, particularly given expectations that the roster was capable of a significantly better record than the 36 wins achieved that season. The Suns opted for a more deliberate head coaching search with an emphasis on finding a coach who could better connect with players and guide a developing roster. The team reportedly considered up to 20 candidates during the offseason, including former head coach Mike Brown, New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green, and Cleveland Cavaliers assistants Johnnie Bryant and Jordan Ott. The Suns announced on June 6 that Jordan Ott had been named head coach. Ott signed a four-year contract and received endorsements from Suns legends Devin Booker and Steve Nash, the latter of whom previously worked with Ott during their time with the Brooklyn Nets.
On June 11, that former NBA player and Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach DeMarre Carroll would become the first assistant to join Jordan Ott's new coaching staff. Carroll was later confirmed to coach the Suns' 2025 NBA Summer League team. On July 8, the Suns announced that Washington Wizards assistant coach Brian Randle would return as an assistant coach after previously serving under Monty Williams from 2020 to 2023, including during the team's run to the 2021 NBA Finals. The team also confirmed that Chaisson Allen would remain on the staff. Two days later, assistant coaches Brent Barry and James Posey departed the team. Barry joined Amazon Prime Video's NBA broadcast team, while Posey became an assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. The Suns hired Orlando Magic assistant Jesse Mermuys as offensive coordinator, and former NBA player Mateen Cleaves—Ishbia's former Michigan State teammate and United Wholesale Mortgage employee—as player development coach. On July 19, Valley Suns head coach John Little was added to Ott's staff as an assistant coach. On August 9, former NBA player Mike Muscala joined the Suns' coaching staff as an assistant coach. On August 13, the Suns announced that former Charlotte Hornets head coach and front office advisor Steve Clifford had been hired as a coaching advisor.
Front office changes In an interview, Suns owner Mat Ishbia revealed that organizational changes to the front office would take place during the offseason, describing them as the most significant adjustments to be made before addressing the head coaching position. In early April, reports surfaced that the Suns were exploring the possibility of hiring former Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers to be their general manager. However, on May 1, the team announced that Brian Gregory—formerly a college basketball head coach and the Suns' vice president of player programming—had been promoted to general manager. James Jones, who previously served as general manager and team president, transitioned to a senior advisor role for the remainder of his contract, which expired at the start of free agency, before being appointed as the NBA's Executive Vice President and Head of Basketball Operations on July 9, succeeding Joe Dumars. Additionally, the Suns promoted director of scouting Oronde Taliaferro to assistant general manager and expanded chief innovation officer Paul Rivers' responsibilities to include basketball operations. On September 22, it was announced that Steve Nash would return to the Suns as a senior advisor, with him also slated to join his planned position for Amazon Prime Video's own NBA TV-based program on their streaming service in the process (with him retaining his position with Amazon Prime for this season while doing pre-game work there).https://www.si.com/nba/steve-nash-lands-new-job-with-suns Finally, on October 4, the Suns would hire former Detroit Pistons senior advisor Ed Stefanski to be their new front office advisor to go alongside Steve Nash.https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/suns-news/90111/suns-add-longtime-nba-executive-ed-stefanski-as-front-office-advisor
Draft picks
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College / Club 1 10 Khaman Maluach Center South Sudan Duke 2 31 Rasheer Fleming Power Forward United States Saint Joseph's 2 41 Koby Brea Shooting Guard United States Dominican Republic Kentucky The Suns entered the draft holding one first-round and one second-round selection, though neither was originally their own. The first-round pick, which became the 29th overall pick, was acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers through a previous trade with the Utah Jazz. The second-round pick, 52nd overall, was also obtained via trade during the previous season. The Suns acquired it, along with Nick Richards, from the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Josh Okogie and three second-round picks. The selection originally belonged to the Denver Nuggets.
Phoenix's original first-round pick (No. 10 overall) had been dealt to the Brooklyn Nets as part of the trade for Kevin Durant. The Suns' own second-round pick (No. 40 overall) was included in the earlier trade with the Washington Wizards for Bradley Beal. However, on June 22, it was announced that following Durant's impending trade to the Houston Rockets—which became official on July 6 after Jalen Green's rookie extension and later expanded into a record-breaking seven-team deal—the Suns would regain their first-round pick initially lost in the Durant trade. Phoenix was also slated to acquire the final selection of the draft from the Oklahoma City Thunder, in addition to second-round picks in 2025, 2026, and 2032. The 59th pick, originally held by Houston before being traded to Phoenix, became the final selection of the draft after the New York Knicks forfeited their second-round pick due to a free agency violation.
In the first round of the 2025 NBA draft, the Rockets selected South Sudanese center Khaman Maluach from Duke University on behalf of the Suns. Maluach had been named to the 2025 All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Freshman Team after helping Duke reach the Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Before his collegiate career, he played professionally for multiple teams in the Basketball Africa League, where he led the league in rebounds in his final season in the league. Phoenix also sent the 29th overall pick, a 2029 first-round pick acquired from the Utah Jazz, and Serbian guard Vasilije Micić to the Charlotte Hornets. In return, the Suns received Mark Williams and reacquired their own 2029 second-round pick.
In the second round of the draft, Phoenix executed several additional trades involving their second-round selections. The Suns initially held the rights to the 36th, 52nd, and 59th overall picks. The Suns ultimately acquired the 31st and 41st overall selections. With the 31st pick, the Minnesota Timberwolvess selected forward Rasheer Fleming from Saint Joseph's University for the Suns, while the Golden State Warriors used the 41st pick to select Dominican-American guard Koby Brea from the University of Kentucky for Phoenix. Fleming had been named to the 2025 All-Atlantic 10 First Team, while Brea was a two-time Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year in 2022 and 2024 and led the conference in three-point shooting in his final seasons at Dayton and Kentucky.
Trades and Free agency Ahead of the 2025–26 NBA season, the Phoenix Suns sought to move on from Bradley Beal's remaining two years under contract and explored trade options involving Kevin Durant as part of a broader effort to restructure the roster following two disappointing seasons from their “superteam” experiment centered around Devin Booker. On June 22, it was announced that a deal involving Durant would become official on July 6. The transaction ultimately materialized as a record-breaking seven-team trade that sent Durant to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the return of the Suns' own first-round pick, multiple second-round draft selections (including two in the 2025 draft, one in 2026, and a conditional pick in 2032), and Daeqwon Plowden from the Atlanta Hawks, who was later waived following completion of the deal.