Few players on the Phoenix Suns enter the 2025-26 season with more pressure to succeed than second year ahead Ryan Dunn. After a promising Rookie season in which he initially achieved much more of deep than we saw at the university – before he finally cooled – Dunn is even more important for this version of the Suns.
They have entered into a reconstruction phase – despite the consistent use of the word “reinforce” – around Devin Booker, and how long it takes to return to the relevance, will depend on how quickly his supporting Cast top equipment can touch. Dunn certainly falls into that category, making his role in the valley this coming season an easy season to find out.
Dunn must develop into a Mikal Bridges type Two-Way Menace.
It is foolish to try to recreate what the Suns once had to come all the way to the NBA Finals in 2021, but they should look up to find players who fit the most successful roles from that selection. Having booker is clearly a help, although the team is painfully lacking in a floor general and leader in the same spirit as Chris Paul.
Mikal Bridges was one of the most beloved members of that team, and there is reason to believe that Dunn can replicate the success that he had at both ends of the court. Fans have already hired him thanks to how difficult he plays and what a pleasant surprise he was for the franchise last season. There is even a reason for him that starts this time, although Dillon Brooks has certainly locked that place.
From the moment he was set up as a professional during his first low season, he presented Ryan Dunn in the elevator ☄️ pic.twitter.com/LEV1Z9N0S
– Phoenix Suns (@suns) August 8, 2025
Even if it is Brooks that starts the campaign with the starting five, this only contributes to the comparisons between Dunn and Bridges. In the current first two seasons in New York Knicks in Phoenix, he started 56-of-82 and 32-of-73 games. Then he would become an Ironman, and it would be great to see that Dunn picked up that characteristic as his career progresses.
But the point is that bridges were needed for a few seasons to become a normal game and to have an impact on both ends of the court, and in some respects Dunn is already on schedule. The arrival of Brooks means that we cannot say that he is the best defender on the ball on the Roster, but he also sees it to take over the defensive Quarterback Rol from Brooks when he will continue in the future.
Having Brooks as a teammate will also not derail Dunn, because we have already seen enough to know that head coach Jordan Ott will use him as a two -way player in the forward position. Last season the Suns gave up more than two points less per game (115.1 compared to 117.7) when Dunn was on the field, while in blocks he was in the 86th percentile percentile per 86th percentile Glass.
In the meantime, he attacked the campaign with 44 percent of deep in November, and in January and March he also crawled above 35 percent on 3-Pointers. It is worth pointing out that he ended his Rookie season a disappointing 31.1 percent on a shadow under three attempts every night, but there was enough to work with.
That is why Dunn goes directly in as one of the best two -way players in Phoenix. An important role, given that Rookie Khaman Maluach will be time to be something different than a negative attacking, while Jalen Green is hardly a lockdown defender. Dunn brings the best of both worlds in the kind of frame that excels at that location, and the Suns will be the better team.
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