Khaman Maluach's Summer League Surge Makes Him Phoenix's Center to Watch
The No. 10 pick dropped 19.5 points and 12.8 boards per game in Vegas. With Mark Williams out until February, the rookie's minutes are climbing fast.
Rising minutes and a thin Suns frontcourt make him a deep-league stash.
- Maluach: 19.5 PPG, 12.8 RPG in 4 Summer League games
- Hit 8-of-20 from three in Vegas
- Playing 21 MPG off bench vs Ighodaro's 16
- Mark Williams sidelined until at least February
- Suns finished 45-37, swept 4-0 by Thunder
Phoenix went 45-37 last season, slipped into the West's eighth seed and promptly got swept 4-0 by the Thunder. Not a disaster, not a success — just a team stuck in the middle. But the most intriguing storyline heading into 2026-27 isn't Devin Booker. It's the center spot, and specifically a rookie who looked like a completely different player in Las Vegas.
Khaman Maluach, the No. 10 pick in 2025, averaged 19.5 points and 12.8 rebounds across four Summer League games while knocking down eight of his 20 three-point attempts. It's a tiny sample, sure, but it's exactly the versatile big the Suns drafted him to be. A center who can finish lobs and stretch the floor gives head coach Jordan Ott lineup flexibility he didn't have before.
The Center Battle Is Wide Open
Here's the opening Phoenix managers should care about: Mark Williams — just re-signed for three years and $38 million — is out until at least February. That leaves Oso Ighodaro and Maluach splitting the middle. Ighodaro has started both exhibition games, but Maluach is already out-minuting him off the bench, 21 to 16. When a bench rookie logs more run than the starter, the depth chart is telling you something.
The Booker question still looms over everything. He posted his lowest effective field goal percentage since year three last season, and his finishing at the rim has slid from 63% over seven seasons to 59% in 2024-25 and just 56% in 2025-26. His salary climbs from roughly $57 million now to $69 million by 2029-30. The Suns need to know whether this is an injury dip or the start of a decline — because a correct supporting cast still fails without a superstar version of Booker.
The Fantasy Angle
Maluach sits at our rank #393 overall (#60 at center) after a quiet rookie debut — 3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 8.5 fantasy points per game across 46 appearances in 2025-26. But his last five games ran +8 fantasy points over his season average, and his form is clearly pointing up. The rest of the backcourt is thin for fantasy: Collin Gillespie checks in at #120 (27.1 FPTS/G last season) but is slumping, down 13.1 points per game over his last five.
The move here is WATCH on Maluach. In standard leagues he's a stash, not a start — but with Williams shelved into February and the rookie already eating minutes, the path to relevance is real. Monitor whether his Summer League shooting travels. If the threes keep falling in real games, he jumps from waiver afterthought to streaming option fast. Grab him now in deep formats before the box scores make it obvious.
