The Phoenix Suns Had A Surprise Comeback Season Despite Playoff Loss

BusinessSportsMoneyThe Phoenix Suns Had A Surprise Comeback Season Despite Playoff LossByBarry M. Bloom,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Boomskie on BaseballFollow AuthorApr 28, 2026, 10:00am EDTDillon Brooks and Jalen Green joined the Suns in an offseason trade that sent Kevin Durant to Houston. Despite serious injuries to both players, they helped remake the team. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)Getty ImagesPHOENIX -- The Suns were swept out of the first round of the NBA playoffs by the defending champion Thunder on Monday night at the Mortgage Matchup Center, but there’s nothing for them to hang their heads about. By any stretch of the imagination, this was a successful season coming off last year’s debacle.“We have a good group, and nobody expected us to be in this position,” guard Grayson Allen said in the hours before the Suns dropped a 131-122, Game 4 decision to Oklahoma City. “During the regular season we realized what we had. Expectations grew about what we could accomplish. But we’re not happy with saying we just got into the playoffs.”Kudos to majority owner Mat Ishbia for rebuilding the entire Suns basketball operations and roster on the fly. That came on the heels of his restructuring the WNBA Mercury into a fast-paced product that was quickly wiped out of the playoffs in 2024 at the end of the Diana Taurasi-Britteny Griner era to a team that surprisingly made the finals in 2025.Like the Suns, the Mercury went four and out against a much better Las Vegas squad that won the WNBA title for the third time in the past four seasons. But the resurgence of the Mercury was evident. Ishbia opened a state-of-the-art practice facility for the women and restocked the team. “They went out and got great players in the offseason,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said at the time. “When you do that, other players want to come over and join them. They also did a nice job getting overseas talent. And there’s the investment of the ownership group. You want to come into a practice facility like they have. You want to be treated well like they do. You want that kind of care. Phoenix has stepped forward and done all that.”MORE FOR YOUThe Suns Parlayed The Surprising Mercury SeasonThe Thunder far eclipse the current Suns, and the verdict is still out on whether they will repeat. There’s three more tough playoff rounds to go for OKC, including another likely trip to the NBA Finals.The Suns couldn’t stop star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had a Game 3 for the ages with 42 points on 87% shooting in all areas. He made 26 of 30 shots overall, missing only one from two-point range, two from beyond the three-point stripe and a single free throw. Really?” Shai said when told those numbers. “I should have shot more.” The Suns tried to defend him and at times it got pretty physical. But you’re not a league MVP without some sort of chops. Dillon Brooks, a friend of SGA and a fellow Canadian citizen from Ontario, said not to worry, "I’ve got him in Game 4." if (!window.cnxel) { window.cnxel = {}; window.cnxel.cmd = []; var iframe = document.createElement('iframe'); iframe.style.display = 'none'; iframe.onload = function() { var iframeDoc = iframe.contentWindow.document; var script = iframeDoc.createElement('script'); script.src = '//cd.elements.video/player.js?cid=62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a'; script.setAttribute('defer', '1'); script.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript');…

This excerpt is published under fair use for community discussion. Read the full article at Forbes - Business.