LOS ANGELES — The realist in Phoenix Suns head coach Jordan Ott didn’t allow him to fully enjoy winning his first NBA Coach of the Month award for January.
He sees it as a testament to where the Suns are as a team, but knows the regular season ends in April, not February.
“We play our own style of basketball,” Ott said Feb. 3. “We’re building something that is going to hopefully lead to success down the road. That’s where it feels good. It feels good that we’re on the right path, but we know how quickly this thing can change.”
Phoenix Suns head coach Jordan Ott celebrates a score against the New York Knicks with players during the first half, Jan. 9, 2026, in Phoenix.
Phoenix (32-23) is trying to complete one of the NBA’s surprise stories in 2025-26 with a playoff appearance. Seventh in the Western Conference and only two games out of fourth, the Suns have already exceeded the 2025-26 win total set by sportsbooks last summer with 27 games left in the regular season.
FanDuel put Phoenix’s over/under win total at 31.5. BetMGM and DraftKings set it at 30.5.
Outside of the sportsbooks, Bleacher Report predicted the Suns would finish 26-56, while ESPN projected the team to win 31.8 games, ranking them 26th out of 30 teams.
“Always fun to see what the so-called ‘experts’ thought about the Suns before the season,” Suns team owner Mat Ishbia tweeted last month. “Proud of what we’re building here in Phoenix and we are just getting started!”
NBA.com ranked the Suns 13th in its West preseason power rankings. The league’s general managers didn’t even have the Suns reaching the play-in tournament.
“We know what the people said, but we also know the talent that we have in here, the chemistry that we built before training camp even started,” Suns five-time All-Star Devin Booker said last month.
“We never put an expectation on anything. We just want to come out here and play the right way and that's what we've been doing this year.”
What will it take to make the playoffs?
The Suns likely need at least 11 more wins to assure themselves at least a play-in spot, given how the West has shaken out the previous four seasons.
That won’t be easy when considering they have the ninth-toughest remaining schedule according to Tankathon, based on their opponents’ records.
The average win total for West play-in teams from 2021-22 to 2024-25 was 43.
The San Antonio Spurs had the worst record of those play-in teams during that stretch at 34-48 in 2021-22.
Eleven of the 16 teams won at least 42 games, with New Orleans reaching 49 victories in 2023-24 to finish seventh in the conference.
The Pelicans lost the tiebreaker to Phoenix for the sixth seed.
As for Phoenix making the playoffs outright and avoiding the play-in, the average win total for West teams that landed the sixth seed the previous four seasons was 47.5.
The Suns are 16 wins shy of beating that number, but they weren’t even supposed to be in the playoff conversation this season.
Playing hard, together
Phoenix has gone from an afterthought after trading Kevin Durant, buying out Bradley Beal and making Ott a first-year head coach to climbing as high as fifth in the West by playing aggressively and physically, with an emphasis on defending, offensive rebounding, 3s, pace and winning the possession game.
“I don't think we ever had, like, what expectations are supposed to look like,” Ott said. “I think we just wanted to bring guys in here that played the right way, that went about their business the right way, and they continue to get better, and I think that's the part where we're at right now.”
Phoenix went 3-1 against two of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference, the East-leading Detroit Pistons (1-1) and the New York Knicks (2-0), and is 3-3 versus the West’s top two squads, defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder (1-3) and San Antonio (2-0).
The Suns have yet to play the Boston Celtics, who are second in the East.
“Playing Suns basketball and keeping our identity as always,” Suns forward Ryan Dunn said. “Come out and compete against every team we play and just focus on us.”
Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen, left, center Mark Williams (15), forward Ryan Dunn and forward Dillon Brooks, right, celebrate in the closing moments during the second half against the Detroit Pistons, Jan. 29, 2026, in Phoenix.
The Suns didn’t have Jalen Green and Booker for the 108-105 loss Jan. 15 to the Pistons during a six-game road trip.
Their biggest win came against Oklahoma City by the same score as Booker nailed a 3 over two defenders with 1.6 seconds left, lifting Phoenix to a Jan. 4 stunner.
A month earlier, the Thunder had handed Phoenix its worst loss in franchise history, 138-89, in an NBA Cup quarterfinal game Dec. 10 in OKC.
"Good team, they play hard,” said Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA regular-season and NBA Finals MVP, about the Suns on Jan. 4. “They play together. In this league, when you play hard and play together every night, you give yourself a chance.”
Chemistry, health, defense
The Suns look to be full strength coming out of the NBA All-Star break. Grayson Allen (right knee sprain) and Isaiah Livers (left shoulder sprain) will be re-evaluated after the break.
“Having a healthy team going into these last two months will be good for us,” Suns forward Dillon Brooks said.
The Suns have had 17 different starting lineups, mostly due to injuries. With Green back from a right hamstring injury that has sidelined him most of the season, Phoenix must blend him into the mix.
Phoenix Suns guard Jalen Green (4) during the first half against the Dallas Mavericks, Feb. 10, 2026, in Phoenix.
“Me personally, I don’t think it’ll take long just because we all got the same goal,” Green said when asked about developing team chemistry. “When everyone has the same goal and trying to chase the same thing, it shouldn’t take long. Off the court, we have a great camaraderie. We get along so well together. It’s just a matter of just being us."
When the Suns got Green and Booker back, but were down Allen and Livers, Brooks wasn’t trying to use that addition and subtraction as an excuse for the Feb. 7 loss to Philadelphia.
“You can say that, but we’re just plug-and-play players,” Brooks said. “We do what we got to do. On the defensive end is where we’re lacking right now with our closeouts, our rebounding and our rim presence.”
The Suns went 11-5 in January and posted the second-best defensive rating in the NBA at 108.1.
No wonder Ott won coach of the month.
Phoenix has started February 2-4 with a defensive rating of 120.7 to rank 25th in the NBA this month.
Who needs to step up?
If the Suns regain their defensive identity and stay healthy, they’ll remain in postseason contention, even though the league now has a much better understanding of how they play.
Booker is the go-to guy leading the team in scoring and assists, while Green brings an athletic dynamic of getting downhill and creating off-script offense.
Brooks sets the tone and is having a career year, and Allen gives the Suns 3-point shooting and another ball handler.
Here are six more players Phoenix needs to contribute to reach the postseason:
Mark Williams: The 7-footer has stayed healthy after three injury-prone seasons in Charlotte. He’s had monster games and minimal ones.
Phoenix Suns guard Collin Gillespie (12) shoots over Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski during the first half, Feb. 5, 2026, in Phoenix.
Collin Gillespie: He’s having a career year to set himself up for a substantial payday, but must remain productive against enhanced defensive pressure.
Royce O’Neale: The veteran forward gives the Suns more than just the quickest catch-and-shoot 3 in the NBA. At 6-8, O’Neale provides much-needed size at the four.
Jordan Goodwin: He’s the team’s best on-ball perimeter defender. The Suns also rely on his 3s and ability to somehow win on the offensive boards at just 6-3.
Oso Ighodaro: He has played long stretches at center because he can switch, handle the ball, screen and finish. How Ott utilizes him and Williams will be huge.
Ryan Dunn: Rookie Rasheer Fleming looks ready for minutes, but Dunn is more experienced, even if it’s just a year more.
March madness
Phoenix’s first game after the break is against the Spurs in Austin on Thursday, followed by four at home versus Orlando, Portland, Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers.
All five of those teams are in the top 10 of their respective conferences.
The Suns play 16 games in March, nine of them on the road, where Phoenix is 14-13.
The Bucks, whom the Suns play twice in March, will likely be without injured All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo for both games.
Chicago, New Orleans, Charlotte, Indiana, Utah, Memphis and Sacramento are the remaining six games in March. The Hornets recently won nine straight, but the Pacers have the NBA’s worst record, followed by the Kings, who have lost their last 14 games.
If the Suns go, say, a game above or below .500 over their next 21 games, they’ll have either 42 or 43 wins going into their final six games of the regular season against Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Oklahoma City.
The Thunder, Rockets and Lakers could already have their playoff spots locked up and might not need a win.
The Bulls and Mavs look like lottery teams.
So, the Suns may be able to make a late push to land a top-six seed to avoid the play-in or secure a seventh or eighth seed to give them two chances to continue one of the NBA’s surprise seasons in 2025-26 in the postseason.
