Grayson Allen 2024-25 Suns season preview: Beefing up for new sixth man role

After a year where Grayson Allen posted career highs in scoring, assists, rebounds, field goal percentage and 3-point percentage, it’d only be natural for the guy to want more. But instead of focusing on himself, Allen sacrificed — for the second time in the last six months — and willingly embraced a bench role with the Phoenix Suns.

The question is, now that Tyus Jones is entering the starting lineup, how can Allen build on a career year while also undertaking a lesser — or at least different — role?

Over the next six days, we’ll be wrapping up our Suns season preview series that’s gone through all 17 players on the roster, one-by-one. That includes both a written piece for the avid readers (hello there!) and a video breakdown for the visual learners.

On Day 12, we’re taking a look at Grayson Allen’s career year, where he grew as a player, and how this bulked-up, newly-minted sixth man can help the Suns despite being moved to the bench.

Grayson Allen 2023-24 Suns Season Preview

When Grayson Allen agreed to a four-year, $70 million contract extension in April, he was signing for less than he could’ve gotten, especially if he had waited until free agency. It was a team-friendly move, but it was only foreshadowing what was to come in the late stages of free agency, when the Suns realized they had a real shot at landing Tyus Jones on a veteran minimum deal.

In Jones’ own words, Allen — his former Duke teammate — played a huge role in recruiting him to Phoenix.

“Off the beginning, he said, ‘Don’t worry about me starting. We need you to come here and be the starting point guard. That’s what we’re missing,'” Jones recalled. “That says a lot about G, his character, him as a player. He wants to win, he’s team-first.

“But also, he’s looking out for me as well. Like, that’s my brother. And he’s like, ‘I know this spot would be a perfect spot for you to succeed and be the best version of you.’ So, he was huge, and when we had that conversation off the bat, I was like, ‘Okay, this is gonna be a good decision for me.'”

It was only natural to wonder if a guy would feel some type of way about being demoted to the bench after the best season of their career, but if Allen’s actions didn’t make it clear how he felt, his words backed it all up at Suns Media Day. Allen said he didn’t think Phoenix needed a point guard last year, but he believes the addition of Tyus Jones will be a perfect fit.

“I’m happy our team got a lot better, I’m happy Tyus is on our team,” Allen said. “I’m looking forward to how we look out there, having him as our point guard. So I couldn’t be more excited to have him on our team, and I’m okay with what comes with that.”

Suns coach Mike Budenholzer, who spent two years coaching Allen with the Milwaukee Bucks, wasn’t surprised. Allen jokingly gave him a hard time when they had a brief conversation about it, but Bud knew he was kidding, and there was no real pushback.

“Grayson’s character, he’s all about the right things,” Budenholzer said. “I feel fortunate to kind of reunite with him and pull him into the recruiting of Tyus. At the end of the day, it’s probably to bring somebody in to take his spot in the starting lineup, but I think all Grayson cares about is winning. I think he loves being around great people, and Tyus is certainly great people. So Grayson on the court is amazing, off the court, he’s amazing. We’re lucky to have him.”

How Grayson Allen specifically improved last year

It’s impossible to narrow it down to one area where Grayson Allen improved in his first season with the Suns. When asked that very question, he found himself giving a lengthy response.

“I got better as a shooter, I got better at getting 3s off off the dribble,” he said. “Better as a creator or secondary playmaker trying to make plays for other guys who score in the paint. I feel like the two years I was at Milwaukee, I took a big jump defensively, and last year, took on a lot of tougher assignments. So I feel like I took another jump defensively last year too.

“And then it comes from having another year under your belt in the NBA, but just being more comfortable, being a little smarter, being a little bit more savvy in certain situations out there that just makes the game easier for you.”

So…pretty much everywhere then?

“Yeah, a little bit of everywhere,” he said with a laugh.

The most obvious improvement was his shooting. Allen shot a career-high 46.1 percent from 3, which led the entire NBA. He made a blistering 45.6 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s and 48.2 percent of his corner 3s, making him an unbelievably unfair spacer to put next to the Suns’ Big 3, especially when he was only one pass away:

According to Stathead, there have only been seven instances in NBA history where a player attempted at least 5.9 3s per game and made 46 percent of them in a season, and Allen joined that prestigious list last year:

• Stephen Curry (2012-13, 2015-16)
• Kyle Korver (2014-15)
• Joe Ingles (2020-21)
• Grayson Allen (2023-24)
• Joe Harris (2020-21)
• JJ Redick (2019-20)

Allen also became one of 165 players in NBA history to ever make 200 3s in a season, and his 205 made triples in a season were the second-most in franchise history. He’s one of four Suns to ever hit that benchmark of 200, joining Gerald Green, Quentin Richardson and Raja Bell. Of those four, Allen had the highest 3-point percentage by a whopping five percentage points.

It wasn’t just spot-up shooting, though. While the majority of his 3s were catch-and-shoot looks, Allen also improved as a shooter off the dribble, knocking down a staggering 47.9 percent of his pull-up 3s. His willingness to fire off shots like these in semi-transition will make him a perfect fit in Budenholzer’s faster-paced offense that wants to get up more 3s:

Allen also grew as a secondary playmaker last year, which can help any lineup he’s in. His 3.0 assists per game don’t sound like much, but he was rarely a primary creator or focal point in the offense. Having a player who’s willing to launch makes him a natural fit in Bud’s offense, but Allen understands his role and is unselfish when he’s sharing the court with Phoenix’s superstar talent.

“When you’re on the court with Kev, Book, Brad, there’s all these weapons around you,” Allen explained. “I could easily get out there and just have a mindset of getting a lot of 3s up, but a lot of times, there’s a better shot on the floor, which, last year, I feel like I did a good job, instead of forcing some of them, getting into the paint. And most of the time, if you get into the paint, draw an extra defender, it ends up for a 3 for someone else.”

Allen’s ability to attack closeouts and either dump it off to a big or find open shooters on the perimeter speaks to his growth with his court vision, his ability to put pressure on the defense with his drives, and his decision-making in the paint:

The best part is that both Allen and his coach believe he’s gotten even better over the summer.

“I had a great year last year and I feel like I’ve gotten better,” Allen said sheepishly. “So me looking at Tyus being a starter, I just feel like our team got a lot better, and I’m still the same player, a better player.”

“Watching him in the gym this summer, he’s significantly better than when he left [Milwaukee],” Budenholzer agreed. “He’s a really good player, I think he’s underrated in a lot of ways and maybe not appreciated the way he should be.”

How can Grayson Allen build on a career year in a sixth man role?

So what changed for Grayson Allen over the summer? For starters, we can’t ignore that he looks like he underwent a Tom Hardy-preparing-to-play-Bane type of transformation, earning him a “Baby Nurk” nickname from Bradley Beal.

Allen’s listed playing weight — 195 pounds — hasn’t been updated in a while, but he says it probably needs to be now that he’s up to 230. Putting on extra muscle was all about handling game-to-game soreness a bit better, especially with the hamstring and hip injuries he’s dealt with at times in his NBA career.

“Each offseason I’ve put on a little bit of muscle, and this offseason I started lifting a little bit sooner than I have in the past, so a little bit of it was unintentional,” Allen said. “But the goal for me ever since four years ago now when I had my hip injury was just continuing to build strength, lower body, have a good base. And so a little bit for me I’ve always felt good with a little bit more strength, a little bit more weight, a little bit more muscle.”

Whether the extra strength plays a role or not, Allen expanded his 3-point range over the summer. He says he’s now comfortable shooting set shots from 5-6 feet behind the 3-point line with no problem. He also worked on specific game scenarios he encountered throughout the season.

“I tried to keep expanding my range where deeper shots feel comfortable, and when I’m right up against the 3-point line, it feels like a layup,” Allen said. “Shooting, getting shots off in different ways, a little quicker, different footwork, under pressure, just different things that I saw during last season. Some late-clock stuff if you get stuck with the ball at the end of the clock, gotta throw one up. Just a lot of different things I saw last year playing with this group of guys.”

The tricky part is, Allen might not be spending as much time with that same group of guys this year if he’s coming off the bench. Last year, the five-man starting lineup of Allen, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant and Jusuf Nurkic outscored opponents by 11.1 points per 100 possessions, which was the fourth-best Net Rating in the entire NBA among all lineups that played at least 300 minutes together.

Allen clearly benefitted from sharing the court with that many gravity hubs on offense. According to The BBall Index, he ranked in the 86th percentile in 3-point openness rating and the 93rd percentile in 3-point shot quality. It was a mutually beneficial relationship, since Allen knocked down those shots at a lethal rate, but it’s fair to wonder whether he’ll still get as many high-quality looks coming off the bench.

One easy way for Budenholzer to mitigate that is by having Allen check in as the first sub off the bench to replace Tyus Jones. That would allow Phoenix’s stellar starting lineup from last year to get some burn together, even if it’s only for pockets here and there.

But since Nurkic will probably be subbing out around that same time frame, another way to leverage Allen’s shooting — even when he’s not sharing the court with two or three members of the Big 3 — would be using him as a screener.

“I’ve done a lot of screening and rolling in the pre-season [workouts], which is a little new for me,” Allen said. “But I think if you look around the league, a lot of teams that are having success offensively kind of have position-less basketball, and I think that will help with a lot of our switching if matchup-dependent guys are setting screens — but not just setting screens to get the switch, but setting a screen to get an attack out of it.”

Allen would love to get up 9-10 3s a game, but he understands that’s hard to do, even when he is sharing the court with superstars who will draw lots of attention. But the hope is that, regardless of lineup, he can continue to space the floor, knock down open looks and contribute to a team that wants to climb substantially higher than its 25th ranking in 3-point attempts last year.

“I think everyone on the team, all the shooters on the team are definitely gonna have a mindset of getting more up,” Allen said. “So I hope that I get more up, but I hope us as a team, we’re in the top-five of attempts around the league.”

We’ve only gotten to see Grayson Allen come off the bench in one measly preseason game so far, but his teammates are confident in his ability to build on his career year…even in a bench role that he actively embraced.

“It doesn’t matter if Grayson’s a starter, if he comes in, he’s gonna be Grayson at all times, and we need him to do that,” Beal said. “And I’m sure he’ll adjust well no matter what the lineup may be.”

More 2024-25 Suns season previews

• Collin Gillespie: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• TyTy Washington: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• Jalen Bridges: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• Ryan Dunn: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• Oso Ighodaro: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• Bol Bol: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• Damion Lee: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• Josh Okogie: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• Monte Morris: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• Mason Plumlee: Written breakdown | Video breakdown
• Royce O’Neale: Written breakdown | Video breakdown