The story everyone keeps circling back to with the Suns is the weird magic of the “Bubble Suns.” In 2020, they missed the playoffs—safely, inside a bio-secure Disney World bubble—and still rolled out of Orlando with an 8-0 record. Their legacy stayed clean. No opponent got to point out the warts.
And then, somehow, none of it mattered the way it normally would. The mythology survived intact, and the team eventually lured Chris Paul and surged to the NBA Finals the next season. It’s the kind of origin tale you tell with a grin—like, look, even when life gets strange, good things still happen.
The 2025-26 Suns feel like the opposite. They’re not playing with house money anymore. With 45 wins, they’ve been one of the bright spots in an NBA regular season that has felt, frankly, grim for a lot of teams. Misryoum newsroom reporting has the same takeaway: they blew away expectations, punched through a dismal narrative, and turned the season into something worth talking about.
Tuesday, though, the calendar stops being friendly. They host the Trail Blazers at Mortgage Matchup Center. If the Suns lose, they don’t go home—they get another chance Friday against a different opponent. They still have two home games to try to punch a ticket to the NBA playoffs, but if they fail, the disappointment won’t be subtle. The stigma will be real. All that “breakthrough” talk—especially after shattering the preseason over/under for victories (30.5)—gets recast fast as failure, a collapse, a cruel tease. Maybe that’s unfair. Actually… not sure. Basketball fans are rarely gentle.
The core point is simple: they badly need to survive and advance from the play-in tournament. A best-of-seven series isn’t just longer—it’s harsher. Matchups and post-game adjustments force you to show range, resilience, and decision-making under pressure. The game grinds down, the physicality climbs, and referees have a habit of swallowing whistles, which changes how every close stretch feels. In that environment, weaknesses don’t hide.
And Misryoum editorial desk noted the Suns have grown a bit fragile over the past two months. Dillon Brooks is a fabulous addition, but his volatility comes with red flags. Devin Booker is among the best players in franchise history, yet he’s also too easy to get derailed by officials and whistles he doesn’t receive. The postseason heat—if they reach it—will test both. If they beat the Blazers, they’ll face the 62-win Spurs. If they get that second opportunity, it becomes the 64-win Thunder. In either case, winning even a single game won’t be easy.
Still, the Suns did something right early. They were 28-15 from November through the end of January, when everything seemed to click. And there’s that extra layer, too: Brooks compared the Suns to the monster under your bed in an essay for The Players’ Tribune—something nobody wants to play, something that makes you stare at your shoelaces. It was true for a while. But the last two months don’t look the same. Or maybe they do, and the difference is just… timing.
Here’s what really matters, though, and it circles back: if they face one of the Western Conference’s best teams in a playoff series, they’ll learn quickly where they’re vulnerable, what needs fixing, and who they need to acquire entering the 2026-27 season. That includes Misryoum analysis indicating the ongoing evaluation/negotiations with center Mark Williams and what his importance could mean. It’s also a chance for Jalen Green to wipe away a dreadful postseason performance with the Rockets a year ago. For the youngest players on the roster, there’s education in that perilous ladder feeling—what it’s like when the stakes aren’t theoretical.
It’s kind of ironic: the Bubble Suns got out unscathed in 2020 despite missing the playoffs, while the eventual champions (the Lakers) had to deal with an asterisk tied to bizarre conditions and a 141-day layoff due to COVID. This time, the Suns won’t get that kind of luck. They’re a team left for dead who shocked the basketball world with a winning record. Now they need one more victory to seal the deal—or risk ruining one of the most surprising regular seasons we’ve ever witnessed.
On the court Tuesday, there’ll probably be the usual arena sounds—thuds from the ball, sneakers squeaking, that low hum from the crowd right before tip. And after that first swing, whether they’re ready to absorb playoff lessons will be obvious fast.
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