Eliav Gabay
The long-awaited debut for the centerpiece of the Kevin Durant deal in Jalen Green became reality against a hobbled LA Clippers squad Thursday night.
Green made scoring 29 points in 23 minutes look easy in his first game in a Suns uniform. He did it on 50% shooting while knocking down six treys.
“I felt really good,” Green said. “Was just excited to get out there. I was telling the guys I couldn’t even get my pregame nap in I was so excited…Our offense has a lot of spacing. Allows to get up a lot of three’s and allows us to play fast. Those are the two things that I love to do. I was watching the film…everything worked out.”
“It’s not easy,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said. “The ups and downs of an injury. Wanting to play, with a new group, in a new city and to be that in rhythm – that’s unique…It’s really the first live reps Jalen has had with our group since early in the preseason…Everything we expected and more.”
“We’re gonna move. Try to play a little faster. Jalen does bring that – his speed. Gotta find more transition attempts, gotta find a way to get to the rim. Gotta get to the free throw line more…We’ll keep trying to put the defense in closeouts. When you have that much shooting, that much skill, it puts the defense in a bind at times.”
Hamstring injuries are nothing to mess with and often times take a few games for players to get back to full form, which makes this performance that much more impressive.
Though it’s been a tough road for Green to get back on the court, injuring that hamstring then reaggregating it before the regular season began, he gave credit to the Suns training staff for getting him right and ready to show out.
“Locking in with my coaches and talking to my teammates, learning a lot from them. Overall, big shout out to the training staff,” Green said. “They held me down all this time, they stuck with me. It was a tricky situation. Just sticking with it and stacking days.”
Jalen Green’s first bucket with Phoenix #Suns is a pretty one:@Sports360AZ pic.twitter.com/RzeYthScFd
— Eliav Gabay (@eliavgabay) November 7, 2025
Ott’s offense allowed Green to play in space and operate comfortably while also creating space for guys like Devin Booker to get clean looks.
“[Booker and I] got a little vibe in training camp before the injury,” Green said. “Off the court, it’s a great vibe. On the court, it’s even better. Talking the whole game. He’s a veteran guard. He’s been there before, done it before, so I’m learning everything I can from him.”
“It just presents a different challenge to the defense,” Ott said. “His ability to get downhill, our space around him. There areas we can get better at but for an opening night for him and our group, I think we figured some stuff out.”
“When Book comes off [the pick and roll] compared to when Jalen comes off, it’s different. Not only are you calculating how the defense is guarding the pick and roll, but also who has the basketball and what they want to get to so it’s gonna take some time. The screen angles and where our guys are which-handed and prefer to go, it’s gonna be something we continue to look at but it’s not gonna change what we do. The bigs are such a big key… we’ll continually stress throwing it to them.”
When a player is as effective as Green is going downhill, it forces defenders to play on their heels and opens up three-point opportunities. Green capitalized on those opportunities and got the crowd involved in the process.
What stood out to me was how easy the game seemed to come to him. The way the Suns were moving the ball, you’d think he’s been in the lineup since opening night.
“We want all five guys out there to be a threat,” Ott said. “It’s up to us to create a system where they feel comfortable to be a threat any time they have the basketball. I thought Jalen did a great job not forcing things…We want him to be ultra-aggressive just like everyone else.”
Now that Green’s back in the fold, the full scope of this roster is starting to come together. Dillon Brooks is still working his way back from injury.
“You hope you get healthy but we do know the NBA,” Ott said. “It’s whoever plays that night, you gotta find solutions for us to have success…We gotta get to a point where it doesn’t matter who’s out there for us – we gotta go win. If we wanna see the whole picture, we haven’t had that yet…We’re getting closer and I think tonight was a big step. [The players] all felt it.”
