The Suns' Center Battle Is Not a Preseason Sideshow — It's the Season

The Phoenix Suns are three preseason games into a year that was supposed to answer a lot of questions. Instead, they lost two of them — 109-107 in Detroit, then 124-117 in Chicago — before beating San Antonio 102-98 with both Devin Booker and Miles Bridges watching from the sideline. The wins and losses don't count. The reason for them might.

The injury that reorganized the roster

Back in September, starting center Mark Williams tore his labrum during a scrimmage. The shoulder required surgery, and the reporting has been consistent that he could be out until at least the All-Star break. Williams was coming off a genuine bounce-back season in Phoenix: 60 games, 11.7 points, 7.95 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 23.6 minutes, on 64.4 percent shooting. That's not star production, but it's a functioning NBA center, and the Suns had finally gotten a full-ish year out of him.

The team's response was measured. Phoenix signed Duop Reath to a one-year deal for depth, then officially added Reath and Kennedy Chandler at camp. But the real answer was already in the building.

Ighodaro vs. Maluach

Oso Ighodaro has been the one winning the job. He played all 82 games last season at 22.1 minutes a night, posting 6.5 points, 5.1 boards and 2.3 assists while shooting 65.3 percent from the floor — a connective big who does the unglamorous work. The catch is at the line, where he shot 45.3 percent.

Khaman Maluach is the opposite profile. He appeared in 46 games but averaged just 8.9 minutes, essentially a redshirt year. He's bigger, and his development matters to the franchise's long-term math — one storyline this week even framed his improving outside shot as a potential release valve for Booker's three-point struggles. Reporting out of camp suggests Jordan Ott isn't closing the door on him, even as Ighodaro leads.

That's a real decision, not a preseason formality. Which big starts dictates Phoenix's spacing, its defensive coverages, and how much help Booker needs to generate.

What the number says

The market is treating this as a step-back season. Phoenix's win total sits at 40.5, with the under priced at -130, and the team is listed at +15000 to win a title with a +100 price to make the playoffs. Compare that to last season's actual 45-37 record and a positive 1.5 point differential, and the gap is the market's way of saying the roster got thinner, not better.

There's some justification for the skepticism beyond Williams. The Suns closed last season badly — 3-7 in their last ten with a -7.0 net rating, and a defensive rating of 119.3 over that stretch. Recency-weighted numbers from the end of the year show a defense that was genuinely leaking.

The through-line

The turnover problem persists, too: Chicago punished Phoenix for it, and the San Antonio win was notable mainly because the Suns cleaned it up. Jordan Goodwin leading the NBA in preseason steals is a nice counterweight on the other end.

None of this is fatal. Preseason sample sizes are tiny and Booker and Bridges sat out the best of the three games. But the center spot is the one place where Phoenix can't simply wait for good health. Williams is out until roughly the All-Star break, and the man who replaces him will either stabilize a defense that has been trending the wrong way or expose just how thin the margin is. That's the story of the Suns' October, and probably their winter.