Jalen Green did not play much during the regular season which made him more of an afterthought for the upstart Phoenix Suns. 

Green spent much of the year on the sidelines and was only really able to play consistently after the All-Star break, yet Phoenix still managed to finish 45–37 and take the seventh seed in the West, far exceeding preseason expectations that had the team headed for the lottery. After appearing in only 32 regular season games because of various injuries, the 24-year-old guard still came through for the Suns though when they needed him the most. 

The 6-foot-4 guard, acquired from the Houston Rockets in the Kevin Durant trade, delivered back-to-back strong performances in Phoenix’s two play-in games. In the first one, they lost 114–110 to the Portland Trail Blazers in the battle for the seventh seed despite Green leading the team with 35 points. The result was disappointing, but his shot-making and aggression were encouraging and kept Phoenix in the game up until the final seconds.

Green came back even better in the play-in finale against the Golden State Warriors.

The second overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft scored 36 points on 14-of-20 shooting in the Suns’ 111–96 win over the Warriors and added six rebounds, four assists, two steals, and three blocks in 39 minutes. He went a perfect 6-for-6 on two-point attempts and drilled eight of his 14 shots from beyond the arc. 

The second half was where Green truly took over. He poured in 22 of his 36 points after the break, exactly when Phoenix needed someone to create separation from a Golden State team that was coming off an emotional victory in their prior play-in game.

This had to feel especially meaningful for Green given what happened just a year ago.

Back when he was still with the Rockets, Green struggled badly against this same Warriors team in their seven-game first round playoff loss. Green entered that series as Houston’s leading scorer in the regular season with 21 points per game, but against Golden State, he managed only 13.3 points per contest while shooting 37.2 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from three.

For a young scorer with his profile, it was a painful series that raised real questions about his ability to be a top option. One year later, he addressed at least some of those questions with this performance against the Warriors.

With the win, Phoenix secured the No. 8 seed and now move on to face the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. Phoenix enters as a major underdog. The Thunder are a budding dynasty that boasts of a line-up that has no real weaknesses. 

Still, the Suns have more firepower than most eighth seeds usually do. Devin Booker and Green are two of the league’s best perimeter scorers while Dillon Brooks, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, and Collin Gillespie give them enough depth to make things interesting.

Phoenix needs this version of Green if it wants any real shot at an upset though. He has not yet produced this level of play consistently enough over the course of his career, but he is still only 24 years old and clearly still figuring things out. If these past two games are any indication, this postseason just might be the turning point that he needed to fulfill his full potential.