Suns Fan Vote Reveals MVP, Future Stars and the Team's Most Chaotic Personalities
NBA awards season is here, and we wanted to hear from YOU, Phoenix Suns fans.
Who is your team's MVP? What about its next first-time All-Star? Which player is on the best contract? How about the worst?
Which player is most likely to have a burner account? Who's the best athlete? And, perhaps most importantly, if you had to choose one player to team up with during a Zombie apocalypse, who's your guy?
You helped us make sense of the Suns' season by casting a ballot for each of these awards—and more!
Who Is the Most Valuable Player?
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Winner: Devin Booker
Collin Gillespie stabilized the backcourt with a breakout season, Dillon Brooks brought a winning mindset before he got hurt in his 50th game of the year and Royce O'Neale quietly had his most impactful season since he was a key piece of some great Utah Jazz teams.
That said, Devin Booker continued to be the Suns' most important scorer and facilitator. Phoenix's lone All-Star is also its MVP. Nice to see fans appreciate Brooks' contributions, but this correctly belongs to Booker in a landslide.
Who Is Most Underrated?
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Winner: Jordan Goodwin
It's hard to know what would have become of the Suns' forward rotation if not for O'Neale's shooting and ability to defend up the positional spectrum. He and Brooks got some credit here for Phoenix's surprise campaign.
That masked man, Jordan Goodwin, wound up getting a whole lot more from voters.
His hustle and defensive intensity capture 45.0 percent of the vote, more than Brooks and O'Neale's combined total and far beyond Oso Ighodaro's 12.0 percent.
Who Is the Best Athlete?
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Winner: Jalen Green
Hamstring injuries didn't let him showcase it much, but Jalen Green's explosiveness was still a key part of his game. He had a hefty lead on the field here based on this season's play, even if a lot of his "best athlete" title owes to his track record.
Khaman Maluach's buckets were almost 30 percent slams, Ighodaro logged over 100 dunks on the year and Ryan Dunn flashed some real lift when rising to contest a shot, elevating in transition or chasing down a block.
Who Is Most Likely To Be a 1st-Time All-Star In the Next 5 Years?
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Winner: Jalen Green
Green has the draft pedigree and scoring volume, but he'll have to become more efficient to sniff an All-Star game. That didn't stop fans from giving him this award in an easy win over Brooks, who finished second at 27.0 percent.
Brooks' defense and intensity were as advertised, but the veteran wing's surprising entry into the 20-point scorer's club makes his future All-Star case more interesting.
Long shots also included Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming and Gillespie. None proved enough get significant votes.
Who Has the Best Contract?
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Winner: Collin Gillespie
O'Neale will earn just $10.9 million next year and $11.6 million in 2027-28, pay rates well below the mid-level for a clear starter on the wing.
Ighodaro, another player who took on first-unit duties, will make less than $5 million over the next two full seasons.
Maybe it was a bit of a cheat because his deal expires after this year and will certainly get larger when he hits free agency, but it's a joke that Gillespie only earned $2.3 million for his services in 2025-26. Fans agreed.
Who Has the Worst Contract?
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Winner: Bradley Beal
This award going to Beal, who's no longer on the Suns, is proof that fans are not getting over the $19.4 million Phoenix has to pay him in each of the next five years. Beal's 83.0 percent share of the vote is also proof that only a small fraction of Suns fans are concerned about the two-year, $145 million extension Booker signed over the summer.
He's the Suns' best player, but Booker is a low-end All-Star getting by on foul-baiting and mid-range guile as he ages. Maybe he's worth the $53.1 million Phoenix paid him this year, but it's hard to argue he'll produce at a $68.8 million clip in 2029-30.
Who Is the Best Trash-Talker?
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Winner: Dillon Brooks
Brooks is a Class-A irritant whose career has been largely defined by a willingness to engage with anyone—physically and verbally.
The man wears sunglasses inside, which is a clear sign of the confidence necessary to pop off at the likes of LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Everyone else on the Suns was playing for second.
Who Is Most Likely To Have a Burner Account?
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Winner: Dillon Brooks
Brooks is nothing if not direct, so it's hard to imagine him hiding his thoughts behind a fake online identity. Of course, if he just can't get enough chatter in during the actual games, it's possible he'd carry it over onto social media. Who knows what his capacity for instigation is?
Fans were persuaded Brooks' drive to antagonize would carry into cyberspace.
Shout out to Grayson Allen, whom 20.0 percent of fans believed might have a burner—probably so he could argue that none of the flagrant fouls in his history were warranted.
Who Are You Taking With You Into the Zombie Apocalypse?
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Winner: Jordan Goodwin
Gillespie is a Philly kid who went to Villanova, which means he's tougher than most of the NBA population. The gumption and resourcefulness that helped him secure a major role would seem to be useful attributes when trying to survive a zombie-infested wasteland.
Jordan Goodwin's mask seemed to give him an edge among voters. They believed his protective gear paired well enough with his competitive fire to put him over the top.
Brooks tends to look for fights, which fans correctly identified as a real no-no in this hypothetical.
Who Is Most Likely To Be Playing Overseas In 2 Seasons?
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Winner: Jamaree Bouyea
Jamaree Bouyea is 26 and has played for six different NBA teams, a resumé suggestive of a future overseas career if ever there was one. Joining him as potential pros in another country were Amir Coffey (the Suns were his third team in two years) and Haywood Highsmith, who spent 2019-20 and 2020-21 overseas.
If you wanted to get practical about it, maybe Brooks is worth a vote on the off chance he antagonizes Adam Silver at some point.
Bouyea edged out Coffey for the "win."
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