The Phoenix Suns’ first-round playoff exit in four games by the Oklahoma City Thunder wasn’t a surprise.
Although the series odds heavily favored the reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Thunder, they admire the Suns’ 2025-26 season finish, which included 45 regular-season wins and a spot in the playoffs.
“They’re a good team,” Thunder All-Star Chet Holmgren said about the Suns, after Phoenix’s season-ending 131-122 home loss in Game 4 on April 27. “They made runs. The games were competitive. They’re well coached.
“They gave us different looks, threw different things at us, and we adjusted well, stuck together, and stayed confident in our stuff and made enough plays.”
The Suns were short-handed during the first round against the league’s top-ranked defense. They didn’t have the inside play from starting big Mark Williams. Grayson Allen missed Games 1 and 2 from a left hamstring strain. Their top 3-and-D backup guard Jordan Goodwin played just five minutes in Game 1, which the Suns lost by 35, and his sore left calf sidelined him thereafter.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault knows what it’s like to be in a rebuilding stage. When he was hired in 2020 to replace Billy Donovan, the Thunder went from a combined 46 wins during Daigneault’s first two years to 68 during their title run last season.
The NBA media expected a gap year in 2025-26 for the Suns, following the Kevin Durant trade and Bradley Beal’s contract buyout.
Daigneault didn’t want to compare the Thunder’s rebuilding process to the Suns, but evaluated first-year head coach Jordan Ott and the Suns’ player development.
“The thing that’s impressive for me is the level of foundation that they’ve built this season on both ends of the floor,” Daigneault said. “Despite retooling the team, despite a new coach, on the offensive end, they’re organized. They know what buttons to push. They play the right way every night.
“On the defensive end, they’re competitive, they’re physical, they pressure, they’re solid in their schemes, they don’t make a lot of self-inflicted mistakes. That foundation raises your floor significantly and allows you to build on that.”
Booker hit a game-winning 3 to beat the Thunder 108-105, in Phoenix on Jan. 4, but struggled in this series.
He scored 21.3 points per game but shot an abysmal 25% from 3 and was a combined minus-47.
Gilgeous-Alexander attributed Booker’s struggles to Oklahoma City’s tight coverage, crowding Booker. The 2024-25 MVP also proclaimed Booker’s primary defender, Lu Dort, as “the best in the league at individual matchups.”
But Gilgeous-Alexander understood Booker’s approach as a facilitator.
“I have respect for him,” Gilgeous-Alexander said about Booker. “You could tell he was out there trying to make the right play. He was playing basketball the right way, playing for his teammates. We were showing him bodies, and he was making reads.
“He obviously didn’t have any crazy scoring outings he’s used to having, but he was playing ball the right way and being aggressive. Our game plan just worked.”
Gilgeous-Alexander also lauded his Canadian Olympic teammate Dillon Brooks, who emerged as the Suns’ leading scorer (26.0 points) in the playoffs.
“He’s a great competitor,” Gilgeous-Alexander said about Brooks. “Great guy. No matter what people say about him, he’s a really good guy when you get to know him. All that villain stuff, it doesn’t phase me. I know exactly who Dillon is. He had a hell of a series. He keeps getting better. I’m proud of him.”
