Jalen Green might be next in line for a breakout season.
It appears the Phoenix Suns are all-in on Jalen Green going forward. Per Gambo, they will not be trading him. And while the conversation around positional overlap is valid, that’s not what we’re discussing today.
This is about upside.
Specifically, the kind of upside we’ve seen before from young players on the verge of putting it all together, the kind of leap Cade Cunningham just made.
Comparing Cade with @JalenGreen at age 22 there are a lot of similarities. The @Suns are about to see that next level jump from Green that Cade saw in his age 23 season pic.twitter.com/s1NofZbC2J
— JS4 (@iareawesomeness) June 27, 2025
A year ago at age 22, Cade Cunningham posted 22.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game on 44.9/35.5/86.9 shooting splits. At that same age this year, Jalen Green averaged 21.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game on 42.3/35.4/81.3 shooting. The scoring and rebounding? Nearly identical. The playmaking edge goes to Cade, but that’s to be expected; he’s a primary point guard with the ball in his hands nearly every possession. Jalen’s job has been to score and cut, not orchestrate.
But what makes this comparison powerful is not what they did at 22. It’s what Cade did next.
This past season, at age 23, Cade Cunningham finally silenced the critics. After a year of being called an underachiever on one of the league’s worst teams, Cade responded with a breakout season. He looked in control. More efficient. More composed. Like a real franchise cornerstone. He upped his points per game to 26.1, his rebounds to 6.1, and his assists to 9.1, leading his Pistons to the playoffs. A stunning leap from age 22 to 23.
Jalen Green just turned 23 four months ago. And despite being the second overall pick and the most athletic player in his class, he’s already getting labeled. Not as an underachiever on a lottery team like Cunningham, but as the weak link on a Western Conference 2-seed who didn’t deliver in the playoffs. And while some of the criticism is fair, the full story is incomplete.
Green had one dominant playoff performance: a 38-point outburst that showcased his elite scoring ceiling. That’s not nothing.
Let’s also not forget: Jayson Tatum was once labeled a playoff no-show, too. In his early 20s, he struggled with shot selection, decision-making, and consistency under pressure. The narrative started to shift once he matured, and now, just a few years later, he’s an NBA champion and a perennial MVP candidate. Greatness doesn’t always show up on schedule. It grows through failure.
Erik Williams-Imagn Images
Jalen Green is entering his age-23 season on a suddenly young and energized Suns team, alongside a veteran backcourt partner in Devin Booker, who can take the pressure off. That context matters. So does the talent. So does the growth.
Cade made the leap. Tatum did too. Who’s to say Jalen Green isn’t next?
In the context of criticizing him, we also need to remember how young he is. His future is still very bright, and he still has tons of upside potential. And now that he’s on the Suns, it’s going to shine even brighter.
What do you think, Suns fans?
Will Jalen take that next step like Cade and Tatum did?
Can Booker help unlock his full potential?
Or are we still a year too optimistic on the still very young Jalen Green?
Sound off in the comments.
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