The Suns offseason gamble at center has already been written off

The Western Conference center rankings say the Suns are in trouble.

We’ve made it. August. The darkest month on the NBA calendar. Two months until preseason tips off. Three and a half months since the Suns last played a meaningful game. The basketball void has fully swallowed us. And there’s no light down here.

This is the season of speculation. Of rumors spun into narratives, and narratives twisted into hope. Thought experiments, rankings, assumptions. Locally and nationally, we begin our annual ritual: judging the Suns’ offseason and guessing where it might lead.

One of the few steady signals in all this noise? The Mark Stein Substack. Every time a new post drops into my inbox, I open it like it’s a letter from the front lines. On Friday, it brought with it something worth chewing on, a repost from Diggin Basketball, penned by Iztok Franko.

The topic? Centers in the Western Conference. Ranked. Evaluated. And, of course, ripe for debate.

When you scan the landscape of centers across the Western Conference, it becomes clear: the Suns have work to do. This isn’t a new realization. We lived it last season.

From an athleticism standpoint, from rim deterrence, from defensive reliability, Phoenix had one of the weakest center rotations in the league. Add in the simmering tension between the head coach and the starting center, and it wasn’t just a mismatch of personnel. It was personal. Dysfunction at its most avoidable.

So when Iztok Franko dropped his rankings of the top centers in the West, here’s where the chips landed:

1. Nikola Jokic
2. Victor Wembanyama
3. Ivica Zubac
4. Alperen Şengün
5. Rudy Gobert
6. Domantas Sabonis
7. Deandre Ayton
8. Dereck Lively II
9. Isaiah Hartenstein
10. Walker Kessler
11. Naz Reid
12. Donovan Clingan
13. Daniel Gafford
14. Brook Lopez
15. Mark Williams

That’s right. Even after upgrading the center position, the Phoenix Suns are still saddled with the label: worst starting center in the Western Conference. Never mind the added depth. Never mind the upside. The acquisition of Mark Williams on draft night has been met with indifference, if not outright dismissal.

Per Franko:

Another unproven big man enigma with lingering and significant injury and mobility concerns that continue to cloud his long-term outlook. He’s an enormous talent (both literally and figuratively) and one I’d feel better about if paired with a playmaker like Dončić. That opportunity was lost when Williams failed his physical after being traded to the Lakers at the last deadline.

What’s always amused me is the narrative flip. The moment Mark Williams was shipped to the Lakers last season to pair with Luka Doncic, it was hailed as a masterstroke. Their guy. A vertical lob threat tailor-made for Luka’s drive-and-kick playground. Basketball purity.

But once the trade was rescinded, after the Lakers claimed Williams failed a physical, suddenly the same player was radioactive. The perception shifted overnight.

And maybe this is just the tinfoil hat talking, but I’ve always felt like something deeper was at play. The Lakers had to ship out Dalton Knecht in that deal, their rookie darling who was lighting up the scoreboard at the time. Fans weren’t exactly rioting, but the backlash was real. Trading Knecht for a rim-running big wasn’t sitting right.

So, conveniently, the trade fell apart. Mark Williams “failed” his physical. And the cloud settled in.

The next night, Mark went out and dropped a double-double. Looked fine to me. But perception is sticky. And ever since, that cloud has followed him.

Sidenote: if you’re looking for a fantastic deep dive into who Mark Williams is and why he might actually matter, give Ranko’s piece a read. It’s worth your time. What’s funny is this is what came out when he was supposed to be a Laker.

Scroll further down Franko’s list and you’ll find Nick Richards slotted at 27. Oso Ighodaro? He’s 30th. Former Sun (and now Jazz big man) Jusuf Nurkic didn’t even crack the top 30. As for Khaman Maluach, he’s tucked away with the rookies.

What this list ultimately serves as is a snapshot of national perception. A reminder of the wall the Suns will be pushing against next season. And honestly? I’m fine with it. There are no expectations. No pressure. The world thinks Phoenix is trotting out the 15th-worst starting center in the NBA. So be it.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true. There are real challenges ahead, sure, but not all of them are set in stone. Some of them are simply projections, lazy or otherwise. And that’s what August gives us: speculation dressed up as certainty.

These are breadcrumbs, fodder for debate until the ball tips again. Time will tell what sticks.