Summer Suns hit stride as Koa Peat’s offensive identity shows

Koa Peat isn’t forcing himself to be anyone but him. Flawed jumper or not, he found his spots at the rim and in the mid-range Monday in the Phoenix Suns’ win in Summer League over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Peat scored 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting, finding easy opportunities in the dunker spot, off cuts and squaring up and getting downhill.

While the handle is a bit rudimentary, Peat has shown the ability to bring the ball up the court and initiate at basic levels — even if it’s not so pretty.

Man Man slam with Collin on the mic 😅 pic.twitter.com/dpB24k7Ob2

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) July 14, 2026

There was a little edge to his game in the 95-88 Suns win against a Bucks team touting lottery picks Brayden Burries, Peat’s old teammate at Arizona, and No. 13 pick Nate Ament.

Early on, Peat posted Ament in the mid-range and knocked down a jumper while earning the foul. He then pointed out that Ament was too itsy bitsy to manage the situation.

Show 'em, Koa 🤏😤 pic.twitter.com/sKtgHe70dl

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) July 14, 2026

Peat finished with six boards and two steals as well.

While there is room for Peat to not get caught out of his position on defense, the effort and physicality showed how he can impact that end of the court as well. Now it’s about learning if the Summer League whistles will be as touching come the regular season.

Khaman Maluach’s best game?

There’s no doubt second-year center Khaman Maluach has been the star of the Summer Suns. But Phoenix’s third outing Monday might’ve been his best from the activity perspective.

Maluach scored 21 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked four shots in 27 minutes. He got to the foul stripe and knocked down all six shots there, hit a triple for the third consecutive game and maybe was most impressive from a pure activity standpoint as a rim protector.

The jump from Year 1 to Year 2 is about Maluach’s body catching up and allowing his secondary actions (jumping on a second contest, absorbing contact through a screen, etc.) to shine. He’s been wildly productive.

He was a true deterrent on Monday.

Koby Brea finally breaks through

Summer League is not a great time to go through a shooting funk when you’re a second-round pick on a two-way deal playing for a team that desperately needs your skillset.

Phoenix shooting guard Koby Brea played 56 minutes in the first two games. He was 2-for-17 with seven points in those minutes. Not ideal.

There was a turnaround Monday night, with Brea dropping 19 points and knocking down six triples, including a few down the stretch of a close game.

It was a breakthrough for Phoenix’s team as a whole after the first two games were bogged down by terrible shooting.

Rasheer Fleming helped Brea with a 3-of-5 shooting performance from 3-point land, as did the one starter who isn’t a Suns draft pick. Darius Brown II hit four from deep.

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