The Phoenix Suns are expected to look a lot different in the 2025-26 season following a disastrous 2024-25 campaign, where they finished 11th in the Western Conference with a 36-46 record. Despite the Suns being in a bit of a messy situation, insider Flex From Jersey reports that Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul want to join the team.
“This is not me guessing, this is not me throwing something at the wall. Both CP3 and Westbrook are guys that could be on this team. Westbrook has been trying to go to Phoenix for 3 years.”
Westbrook played for the Denver Nuggets this season and averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. As tends to be the case with him, there were some great highs but some terrible lows as well.
To go along with that inconsistency, there were also some murmurs about Westbrook being somewhat of a problem in the locker room. You wondered if the nine-time All-Star would return to the Nuggets next season, and it appears he won’t.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported that Westbrook is set to decline his $3.5 million player option to enter free agency. Will the former MVP choose the Suns as his next landing spot? There is also the question of whether the Suns want Westbrook, and we might get the answers to all that soon enough.
As for Paul, he suited up for the San Antonio Spurs in 2024-25 and averaged 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game. While the veteran had a fine season and there were no reports of any sort of discontent, Stein reported he was expected to leave the Spurs.
Paul hinted at wanting to play for one of the teams in Los Angeles to be closer to his family. Phoenix isn’t too far away, though, and he did have some great years with the Suns.
Paul played for the Suns from 2020-21 to 2022-23 and averaged 15.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 9.5 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. He helped them get to the NBA Finals in 2021 and then win a franchise record 64 games in 2021-22.
While Paul isn’t anywhere near the player he was back then, he would be a solid backup for the Suns. You do think, though, that he would be better off going to the Los Angeles Lakers, as they have a much better chance at competing for a title than the Suns.
Neither Westbrook nor Paul has won a championship in their careers, and that is a big hole in their resumes. With both of them inching closer to the end of their time in the NBA, you’d want to see them on contending teams.
The Suns were contenders during Paul’s time there, but this is a team now that’s going nowhere. You wouldn’t expect them to bottom out as long as Devin Booker is around, but it’s hard to see how they even come close to winning a title in the coming years.
