In the first few minutes of a scrappy meeting with the New Orleans Pelicans on the second night of a back-to-back against the same opponent, point guard Collin Gillespie did a number of things.
Neither was notable, though both would end up in the box score, but they served to highlight exactly why he’s going to get a serious raise this coming offseason.
Gillespie always makes the right decision
It seems so obvious to point this out, and yet no one has. When Gillespie is on the field, he always makes the right decision, and more often than not that involves calling on his teammates.
Those aforementioned things the Villanova product did? Royce O’Neale missed a 3-pointer early, but Gillespie got the ball on an offensive rebound.
He was pretty lucky, especially for a player who is shooting 41.5 percent from deep this season, you’d be more than happy if he got that. Instead, he gave it to O’Neale again.
We close 2025 with 10 of our Top Suns Moments ☄️
March 4: Collin Gillespie’s game and 23-point comeback in the second half vs. LAC pic.twitter.com/59Zrk1YDGh
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) December 27, 2025
His veteran teammate considered taking the shot, decided against it and tried to pass it back to Gillespie, before deciding he had enough room to launch three more. This one went in.
About 90 seconds later, he took the ball up the court, and on this occasion, he handed the ball off to Devin Booker for a three-point attempt.
That didn’t happen (it’s been a struggle for Booker this season) and Gillespie got the offensive rebound himself this time. Instead of trying to set something up, he drove the baseline himself.
Once in the paint, he handed it off to the incoming Dillon Brooks, who strolled into the paint for an uncontested layup. The Pelicans immediately called a timeout.
The first Pelicans were playing after that break and Gillespie got lost on a screen. He recovered by following Trey Murphy III instead, before Booker ordered him to switch again.
The Suns came away with the bad luck, Booker rebounding the missed shot and he immediately gave it back to Gillespie. Who gave it back to Booker after breaking free from an Oso Ighodaro screen, who then rewarded the big man as he rolled to the basket for an easy two.
Gillespie didn’t get any credit for that, but it was his decision to push the pace as the Pelicans were out of position defensively that led to an easy basket.
You get the idea, and this is just a small sample of what the 26-year-old does every night. Head coach Jordan Ott likes his defensive effort and he has made a lot of shots so far this season.
But you can’t put a price on having a guy who will always make the right basketball decision, whether it works out or not, and who puts his team first. That’s our MVP.
#Collin #Gillespies #amazing #hidden #skill #talking