It’s easy to forget that the Phoenix Suns have a 23-year-old with clear All-Star quality in Jalen Green on this roster. That’s because he hasn’t even played two full games with his new team.
We won’t see the former Houston Rocket this side of Christmas, but all signs point to a successful rehabilitation from the hamstring injury that curtailed his first season in The Valley.
Green does not appear on ESPN’s 25 under 25
It flew under the radar in Phoenix, but ESPN recently released their list the 25 best players under 25 is currently playing in the league. There’s not much controversy there, other than Green’s omission.
Are we saying he should be in the top 10? Of course not, but this is a guy who hadn’t missed a game, regular season or playoffs, in two full seasons before this campaign.
He also had something of a coming out party with his scoring performance against the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs, though it was admittedly a rough stretch for Green for the most part.
25 for 25 in ’25!
Presenting ESPN’s rankings of the NBA’s best young players based on long-term potential:https://t.co/GHuMbGzEiS
— Zach Kram (@zachkram) December 12, 2025
Number 25 on the list is Reed Sheppard of the Rockets. Surely Green has more attacking upside and is the player most teams would want if they had to choose between the two?
We don’t know for sure, but chances are the Suns didn’t even want Sheppard when they landed both Green and Dillon Brooks from Houston in exchange for Kevin Durant.
Sheppard also had a difficult start to the season, although he has now turned things around in the absence of Fred VanVleet. But Green basically guarantees you twenty bucks a night, and the short stint we’ve seen from him with the Suns so far has been electric.
In one game and with some change, he showed how ridiculous it was to suggest that he and Devin Booker couldn’t co-exist, when players like Brooks and Mark Williams seemed to be the ideal teammates for him to compensate for his defensive shortcomings.
It’s up to Green to return to this list, but you get the feeling this is more “out of sight, out of mind” than anything. If the Suns make the playoffs this season and he plays his role, he will easily take over Sheppard and even overtake guys like Ausar Thompson.
One concern remains for the Suns, and it will continue to haunt them. Phoenix is already in love with Brooks, but the Rockets have three players on EPSN’s roster.
Sheppard (25), Amen Thompson (6) and Alperen Sengun (5), and the Suns gave them Durant to go along that core without getting any of the three back. But if Green can prove he’s real, and if starting center Khaman Maluach can make progress, this won’t look this bad for much longer.
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