Last night, the Phoenix Suns were back at the Intuit Dome after the season opener for Round 2 versus the LA Clippers and Ryan Dunn played a much bigger role this time in Phoenix’s comeback win.
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An injury to Bradley Beal’s elbow opened up a starting spot for the 21-year-old. Dunn played 34 minutes and put up a career-high 16 points along with 4 rebounds, providing the Suns with some much-needed energy on both ends of the court.
RD made just 12 threes during his 2-season college career. But last night, he recorded his 11th made three-pointer in the NBA. Dunn went 4 of 9 from deep, helping the Suns overcome the Clippers’ 21-point lead in the second half and win the game 119-125.
Kevin Durant, who has mentored the 6’6 wing since June, spoke about Dunn’s development in his rookie season. “He’s been working on all different types of parts of his game and kind of kicked it a little bit. So, yeah, he got comfortable. The young punk just got to keep working man,” KD commented in the locker room at Intuit Dome.
"The young punk just got to keep working, man."
Kevin Durant to rookie Ryan Dunn as Dunn scored a career-high 16 points, going 4-of-9 from 3, in his 2nd career start in helping the Suns top the Clippers for a second time at the new $2-billion Intuit Dome. #Suns #ClipperNation https://t.co/iudQd30xnl
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) November 1, 2024
Dunn proved himself as a two-way prospect during the pre-season. But through the five regular season games, few expected the 28th pick from the 2024 NBA Draft to be making ripples in the Rookie of the Year race. He’s currently a top 10 candidate for the award.
If he follows Durant’s advice and continues developing his skillset, we can expect to see RD in the top 5 soon enough.
Ryan Dunn is the Suns’ defensive spark plug
With the additions of Monte Morris and Tyus Jones, coach Mike Budenholzer addressed the Suns’ need for playmaking over the off-season. But the area where they still needed more coverage was on defense, which is the main reason Phoenix drafted Dunn with the 28th pick.
His defensive instincts and tenacity are already well-developed for a rookie as Dunn is holding All-Stars to just 26.3% from the field when he is the primary defender. Overall, he is holding opponents to 40.3% while defending over 9 field goal attempts per game.
He has shown some potential as a help defender as well. He used his 7’1 wingspan to block LeBron James’ layup during the Suns’ 109-105 win over the Purple and Gold.
Ryan Dunn just blocked LeBron James.
Ryan Dunn may be starting for the Suns before the end of the season! pic.twitter.com/SR9y7rxhdY
— 🌵 Mr. Az (@MrAzSports) October 29, 2024
Among Suns players with over 10 minutes per game this season, Dunn’s defensive rating of 106.4 ranks him the third-best. Only veterans, Royce O’Neale and Mason Plumlee, are providing more value to Phoenix on that end of the floor. RD is contesting over 6 shots a game, which is also the third best rank on the team behind Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic.
The ‘young punk’ has clearly been putting in the work and even after Beal’s return from injury, coach Budenholzer should continue relying on him more often.
