And even they were, by most standards, just “average”.
As we reflect on the 2024–25 Phoenix Suns season, the list of highlights is painfully short. A gritty win here, a flash of effort there. There were a few solitary moments that barely broke the monotony of a 36–46 campaign. This was a season defined less by achievement and more by unmet expectations, destined to be referenced for years as one of the most disappointing in franchise history.
And yet, if there was a glimmer of light in the darkness — something we often celebrated here at Bright Side — it came from the rookies.
Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro, with their youth, bounce, and unrelenting energy, brought life to a team that often looked like it was stuck in a trance. You could feel it. The game would lull, the crowd would sink…and then the rookies would check in. Suddenly, things stirred. There was movement. Defense. Blocked shots. Transition jams. Pick-and-roll slams. They played with the kind of urgency that made you sit up and ask, “Why can’t the rest of the roster match this fire?!”
They didn’t just play hard. They reminded us what it looks like when basketball is played with purpose.
As I’ve made my way through the usual slurry of end-of-season NBA podcasts — each rattling off awards ballots and All-Rookie teams — I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of frustration. Not one of them, when listing their first and second teams, even floated the idea of including Ryan Dunn. I get it. I’m not delusional. Oso Ighodaro, for all his hustle and charm, was never going to be in that conversation. But Dunn? The guy played in 74 games. Started 44 of them. He wasn’t just a bench spark. He was a regular, dependable part of the rotation for Phoenix.
Look at the numbers. Among rookies, he finished 16th in minutes played, 17th in total points, 15th in rebounds. That’s not nothing. But then again…maybe it does make sense. If Ryan Dunn is starting 44 games for your team, chances are, you’ve got bigger problems.
And we did.
So sure, I understand why he’s not cracking anyone’s top ten rookies list. He was the 28th pick, and he played like it. But maybe part of this frustration comes from how warped my lens has become. After watching this Suns season stumble and spiral, any flash of energy, any burst of defensive competence, felt monumental. Dunn gave us that. He was a heartbeat in a team that too often flatlined. And in a year starved of meaning, even a faint pulse felt like something to hold onto.
Bleacher Report recently dropped their 2024–25 rookie grades by team. So what did they have to say about the situation in Phoenix? Per the Bleacher Report article:
Ryan Dunn (No. 28) shot 29.0 percent from the field and 21.1 percent from deep in February but upped those rates to 43.1 and 35.1 percent, respectively, in March. Barring a closing swoon, he’s going to just barely stay above 30.0 percent from distance for the season. Though Dunn remains a solid defender, his shooting simply hasn’t been consistent enough to suggest he’s a rotation piece on a good team right now.
Oso Ighodaro (No. 40) began to see extended minutes in March and showed off the defensive mobility, floater touch and short-roll passing that could keep him in the mix as a backup big next season. An extremely low-usage player (under 12.0 percent in every month of the season), Ighodaro may need to develop more scoring volume to really make an impact.
Both Dunn and Ighodaro showed flashes of quality play as rookies, but the high-end upside is hard to see. Considering where they were drafted, that’s about in line with expectations.
Grade: C
Once again, we’re served a dose of reality. I could sit here and build the case — point to the effort, the flashes, the small but meaningful moments — that made Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro feel so vital. I could argue they deserved more recognition, a higher grade, something that acknowledged the spark they brought.
But when you zoom out, when you step back and look at the full picture of who the Suns were this season, they were simply spokes in a wheel spinning helplessly toward a brick wall. My own bias — my appreciation for their hustle, their urgency — only underscores how bleak this season truly was.
Because when the brightest spot you can find is two rookies scrambling to wake up a sleepwalking roster, that’s not light. That’s just another cloud in a sky full of them.
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