Jalen Green Can Positively Impact the Phoenix Suns
NBA Shooting Guard Jalen Green can positively impact the Phoenix Suns. Green, 23, previously played for the Houston Rockets from 2021-2025 following a lone season with the now-defunct NBA G League Ignite during the 2020-21 season. Read on for how Green can positively impact the Suns amid a trade with the Rockets on June 22.
Jalen Green is 23 years old, but he has been a rising star in the NBA. The Houston Rockets selected Green with the second overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft. The Merced, California native played high school basketball at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, Calif., and Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif.
So far, Green made the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2020. Green’s previous achievements include a McDonald’s All-American nomination in 2020 and a FIFA Under-17 World Cup MVP honor in 2018. The 23-year-old played four seasons with the Houston Rockets before being traded to the Phoenix Suns in June 2025.
Green’s trade to Phoenix cannot be formally completed until July 6, 2025, after the July moratorium at the start of the 2025-26 NBA season. Green is a 6-foot-4, 186-pound shooting guard who can put up numbers. Green’s five-game stretch, where he averaged 27.2 points per game, in March 2025 is living proof.
Jalen Green’s new team, the Phoenix Suns, has been struggling in recent years. However, Green is an explosive player who can generate clean looks. Durant will reunite with Ime Udoka, who coached him in Brooklyn on Steve Nash’s staff, and Royal Ivey, an assistant on Udoka’s staff who is both a former teammate and assistant coach of Durant’s.
Green served as an offensive centerpiece for the Rockets and could do the same for the Suns. The Rockets reportedly couldn’t wait for Green to flourish, but the Suns are reportedly planning to keep Green, despite playing the same position as Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. The Suns seem to believe Green will become a reliable playoff scorer soon.
Jalen Green is a talented player who could give the Phoenix Suns a solid scoring backcourt when paired with Booker. Green’s shot selection, along with strength and muscle, has room for improvement, but Green has an upside that can work in his favor.