24 Storylines: A real point guard in Phoenix?

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We’re counting down 24 key storylines heading into the 2024-25 NBA season. Our senior analysts will dissect a new topic each day as we help you get ready for opening night on Oct. 22.
Here is storyline No. 20:
A real point guard in Phoenix? How much of an impact will Tyus Jones have on the Suns?
After the Phoenix Suns traded Chris Paul for Bradley Beal last year, they didn’t bother keeping their only other veteran point guard. Instead, they traded Cameron Payne to San Antonio in a salary dump. The idea was that Beal or Devin Booker, both scorers by nature, could be the nominal point guard and make plays.
Indeed, Booker, Beal and Kevin Durant led the team in time of possession, with Booker’s 6.2 minutes per game being a career-high mark. Booker saw a jump in efficiency from the season prior, but Durant registered his lowest true shooting percentage (58.1%) in the last 12 seasons.
As a team, the Suns were 10th offensively, scoring 116.8 points per 100 possessions. That was an improvement from the season prior, but surely a disappointment given the firepower of their three stars and the additional presence of the league’s leading 3-point shooter.
One big issue was math, with the Suns ranking 25th in turnover rate (28th in turnover differential) and 29th in their ratio of 3-point attempts to mid-range attempts. Both those things can be tied to the lack of a true point guard.
Enter Tyus Jones, who will be the Suns’ starting point guard, according to new coach Mike Budenholzer. Jones has led the league in assist/turnover ratio in each of the last six seasons, with last year’s mark of 7.35 being the highest for a player with at least 200 total assists in the 47 seasons for which turnovers have been tracked.
Having Jones (and Monte Morris to a lesser extent) run the offense will reduce the Suns’ turnovers, giving them more shots at the basket. It will also allow Beal, Booker and Durant to shoot more off the catch. When a greater percentage of shots are coming off the catch, a greater percentage are coming from beyond the arc.
The case against the Suns (and every other team in the West) begins with how deep the conference is. They barely avoided the Play-In Tournament last season, things won’t be much easier this year, and Durant will be 36 years old on opening night.
But with better math, the Suns can be a better team. That better math begins with a real point guard.
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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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