After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Western Conference · tip-off October 20

Phoenix Suns

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

44 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 38 to 49 wins.

The market

40.1 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

45-37

2025-26 · net rating +1.5 (15th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 4.0 wins above the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 43 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 40.1 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 44, middle 80%: 38 to 49 Market 40.1

Where we think they finish in the West

Top 6: 54% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 41% Outside the top 10: 4.9%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
1595¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
2095¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
2593¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
3086¢ 90¢ 88¢ 100%
3570¢ 71¢ 71¢ 98%
4050¢ 51¢ 51¢ 83%
4529¢ 33¢ 31¢ 43%
5011¢ 19¢ 15¢ 9%
552¢ 11¢ 7¢ 1%
600¢ 7¢ n/a 0%
650¢ 6¢ n/a 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 45-37 (13th in wins)

Points per game
112.626th
Allowed per game
111.16th
Offensive rating
113.116th
Defensive rating
111.69th
Net rating
+1.515th

2024-25 · 36-46 (21st in wins)

Points per game
113.618th
Allowed per game
116.622nd
Offensive rating
114.310th
Defensive rating
117.328th
Net rating
-3.023rd

2023-24 · 49-33 (8th in wins)

Points per game
116.210th
Allowed per game
113.213th
Offensive rating
115.69th
Defensive rating
112.513th
Net rating
+3.09th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-1.5627th
Defense
-2.297th
Net, games only
+0.7216th
Roster value
+1.33

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (5)

  • Miles Bridgesfrom CHA
    31.0 min, 17.1 pts a game
  • Luke Kennardfrom LAL
    21.6 min, 8.4 pts a game
  • Pat Spencerfrom GS
    18.6 min, 7.2 pts a game
  • Duop Reathfrom POR
    8.0 min, 2.9 pts a game
1 moredepth and rookies
  • Koa PeatRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (2)

  • Royce O'Nealenow with CHA
    28.4 min, 9.8 pts a game
  • Grayson Allennow with CHA
    28.8 min, 16.5 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Devin Booker G · age 29 · 34.7 projected min 2025-26: 64 g, 26.1 pts, 3.9 reb, 6.0 ast

2025-26 · PHX

64games
33.6min
26.1pts
3.9reb
FG45.6%546/1198
3P33.0%122/370
FT87.3%454/520

6.0 assists a game

2024-25 · PHX

75games
37.3min
25.6pts
4.1reb
FG46.1%654/1420
3P33.2%183/551
FT89.4%432/483

7.1 assists a game

2023-24 · PHX

68games
36.0min
27.1pts
4.5reb
FG49.2%642/1305
3P36.4%152/418
FT88.6%405/457

6.9 assists a game

Dillon Brooks G · age 30 · 28.0 projected min 2025-26: 56 g, 20.2 pts, 3.6 reb, 1.8 ast

2025-26 · PHX

56games
30.4min
20.2pts
3.6reb
FG43.5%417/959
3P34.4%127/369
FT84.2%170/202

1.8 assists a game

2024-25 · HOU

75games
31.8min
14.0pts
3.7reb
FG42.9%384/895
3P39.7%186/469
FT81.8%99/121

1.7 assists a game

2023-24 · HOU

72games
30.9min
12.7pts
3.4reb
FG42.8%329/768
3P35.9%133/370
FT84.4%124/147

1.7 assists a game

Miles Bridges New here F · age 28 · 27.6 projected min 2025-26: 77 g, 17.1 pts, 5.8 reb, 3.2 ast

2025-26 · CHA

77games
31.0min
17.1pts
5.8reb
FG46.0%479/1042
3P33.3%148/445
FT82.2%208/253

3.2 assists a game

2024-25 · CHA

64games
31.7min
20.3pts
7.5reb
FG43.1%469/1089
3P31.3%141/450
FT87.0%221/254

3.9 assists a game

2023-24 · CHA

69games
37.5min
21.0pts
7.3reb
FG46.2%559/1210
3P34.9%157/450
FT82.5%174/211

3.3 assists a game

Jalen Green G · age 24 · 25.8 projected min 2025-26: 32 g, 17.8 pts, 3.6 reb, 2.8 ast

2025-26 · PHX

32games
25.9min
17.8pts
3.6reb
FG42.2%216/512
3P31.3%71/227
FT74.7%65/87

2.8 assists a game

2024-25 · HOU

82games
32.9min
21.0pts
4.6reb
FG42.3%608/1437
3P35.4%234/661
FT81.2%273/336

3.4 assists a game

2023-24 · HOU

82games
31.7min
19.6pts
5.2reb
FG42.3%563/1332
3P33.2%201/605
FT80.4%283/352

3.5 assists a game

Collin Gillespie G · age 27 · 25.4 projected min 2025-26: 80 g, 12.7 pts, 4.1 reb, 4.6 ast

2025-26 · PHX

80games
28.5min
12.7pts
4.1reb
FG41.8%352/842
3P40.1%232/578
FT87.4%76/87

4.6 assists a game

2024-25 · PHX

32games
14.4min
6.1pts
2.4reb
FG43.0%68/158
3P43.3%39/90
FT86.4%19/22

2.4 assists a game

2023-24 · DEN

24games
9.5min
3.6pts
0.9reb
FG46.4%32/69
3P39.5%15/38
FT66.7%8/12

1.1 assists a game

Luke Kennard New here G · age 30 · 24.4 projected min 2025-26: 78 g, 8.4 pts, 2.3 reb, 2.2 ast

2025-26 · ATL/LAL

78games
21.6min
8.4pts
2.3reb
FG53.3%236/443
3P47.8%117/245
FT91.3%63/69

2.2 assists a game

2024-25 · MEM

65games
22.7min
8.9pts
2.8reb
FG47.8%206/431
3P43.3%113/261
FT89.5%51/57

3.3 assists a game

2023-24 · MEM

39games
25.6min
11.0pts
2.9reb
FG44.8%141/315
3P45.0%107/238
FT88.9%40/45

3.5 assists a game

Pat Spencer New here G · age 30 · 23.6 projected min 2025-26: 66 g, 7.2 pts, 2.4 reb, 3.5 ast

2025-26 · GS

66games
18.6min
7.2pts
2.4reb
FG42.7%186/436
3P35.7%60/168
FT77.2%44/57

3.5 assists a game

2024-25 · GS

39games
6.4min
2.5pts
1.2reb
FG40.6%41/101
3P22.7%5/22
FT73.3%11/15

1.2 assists a game

2023-24 · GS

6games
4.5min
0.7pts
0.7reb
FG50.0%2/4
3P0.0%0/2
FTn/a0/0

0.8 assists a game

Oso Ighodaro C · age 24 · 22.7 projected min 2025-26: 82 g, 6.5 pts, 5.1 reb, 2.3 ast

2025-26 · PHX

82games
22.1min
6.5pts
5.1reb
FG65.3%239/366
3P0.0%0/1
FT45.3%53/117

2.3 assists a game

2024-25 · PHX

60games
17.4min
4.2pts
3.7reb
FG60.4%113/187
3P0.0%0/2
FT58.0%29/50

1.2 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.