Jalen Green has always been regarded as one of the NBA's best athletes. At that point, many people forget how dynamic a scorer he is with the ball.
Although Green has battled a nagging hamstring injury throughout the season, he seems to be moving past it. He hasn't had any jaw-dropping dunks, but he's moving with pure fluidity.
Skating by defenders, having a clear extra step on his defender, and the defense knowing what he'll do, yet there's no stopping.
Since Devin Booker returned to the lineup, the dichotomy is clear. Some of the numbers during this 14-game stretch show the potential.
He is averaging 22.8 points, 3.8 free throws per game, 39.6% on 53 catch-and-shoot 3s, 13.5 drives, 3.0 blow-bys per game, 54% on 50 pull-up 2s, 55.7% Inside 10 feet, and 63% on 68 rim field goals attempted.
The advanced numbers paint a clearer picture of his impact, but it all comes down to how comfortable his body feels.
“I feel good. Very blessed and happy to be able to get back out there without any problems,” Green said when asked about his hamstring after Saturday's win against the Utah Jazz.
“As far as my jumping, I feel like I used to be a little more bouncier. I had a couple of attempts at dunking that got blocked. But some days I wake up, and the bounce is there, so I’m gonna take that.”
After Jalen Green scored 31 points in 22 minutes, I asked him how he feels physically since fully recovering from his hamstring injury.
“I feel good. Very blessed and happy to be able to get back out there without any problems… as far as my jumping, I feel like I used to be a… pic.twitter.com/6r5jYylZPT
— Hayden Cilley (@HaydenCilley) March 29, 2026
Jalen Green's well-rounded game benefits the Suns
There are some drawbacks to someone of his philosophy as a scorer. Some nights, the inefficiencies are a bit too glaring to ignore but that can be attributed to his hamstring injury.
For instance, there was a four-game stretch where he connected on only 21 of his 65 shot attempts. Granted, one of Green's made shots was to seal the Suns' win against the Orlando Magic.
Not to mention, Booker was out with an injury for all of those games. Combining that, along with learning a new system on the fly, and being the de facto scoring option, isn't easy.
That doesn't excuse him for those lackluster performances, and he doesn't excuse himself either. But time and time again, Green has reiterated to keep shooting the ball, and the quality of looks.
Those games showed him settling for jump shots, as opposed to getting into the teeth of the defense. As soon as Booker came back, that immediately changed.
Jalen Green's athleticism unlocks another dimension of the Suns
Everyone looks at the offensive output and makes their judgments from that. However, Green has emphasized growing as a defensive player.
Phoenix's latter philosophy is much different than the Houston Rockets, who put focus on defending in the half-court. Suns head coach Jordan Ott does the same, but he loves his guys picking up full court.
It's something outside of Green's wheelhouse, but something he's growing confident in. And the defense-to-offense mentality is something Ott knows fits his star player quite nicely.
“Just his intent, offensively, but he can put a lot of pressure on the rim, especially, again, a lot of that's defensive coverage-based,” Ott said after Saturday's game. “But when we can get the five-man on the perimeter, like we were able to tonight, then he was able to drive it.
“I thought really in that second half, when it was coming out of halftime, kind of up in the air, and then he put his just imprint all over this game.”
With eight games remaining, Green seems to be hitting his stride at the right time. Even with Mark Williams and Dillon Brooks hopeful to come back before the regular season concludes, he'll hope to carry it into the play-in tournament.
