The Suns’ Free-Throw Question Starts With Oso Ighodaro’s Elbow

A free throw is basketball reduced to its simplest form: one player, one routine, no defender allowed to interfere. That simplicity makes Oso Ighodaro’s current Suns assignment unusually clear. After Phoenix’s second training-camp practice, Ighodaro discussed guidance from Isiah Thomas to keep his elbow aligned at the line.

It is a small mechanical detail. In a center competition shaped by Mark Williams’ absence, small details can become selection criteria.

The arithmetic behind the attention is stark. During his rookie season, Ighodaro converted 29 of 50 free throws, or 58 percent. In 2025-26, he went 53-for-117, a 45.3 percent rate. His trips increased by 67, and his makes increased by 24. The trouble is that his misses climbed from 21 to 64.

That is the unusual part of the trend: greater involvement accompanied by poorer finishing at the stripe. More free throws can be encouraging for a big man because they create extra scoring opportunities. But the possession does not become productive merely because the whistle blows. At 45.3 percent, fouling Ighodaro carries a much smaller penalty than Phoenix would want from a player occupying the interior.

The figures also resist a simple diagnosis. They show what happened across two seasons; they do not establish why the percentage dropped. Elbow position may be an important checkpoint, but it has not been proven as the cause. Thomas’ instruction is a possible correction, not evidence that the correction has already taken hold.

That distinction matters more because the Suns have an immediate decision to make in the middle. Williams underwent surgery September 10 for a torn labrum in his left shoulder and is expected to miss several months. Phoenix has not named a starting center, while Ighodaro and Khaman Maluach are competing for the position.

Maluach’s line from last season gives the comparison some definition. He made 22 of 31 free throws in 46 games, a 71 percent rate. Thirty-one attempts are hardly a career verdict, and free-throw percentage cannot settle a center battle by itself.

Still, the contrast with Ighodaro’s 53-for-117 mark is too large to ignore. If the rest of their contributions are reasonably close, dependable foul shooting can alter how comfortable a coaching staff feels about using a player late in possessions or close games.

The rest of the evaluation will be broader. Rebounding, screens, defensive coverage and passing remain central to the job. A center who shoots better but gives away position or misses assignments has not won anything.

Yet free throws offer a particularly clean test because the environment is controlled. Phoenix can watch whether Ighodaro repeats the same setup, whether the misses cluster in a particular way and whether the routine remains stable when the game supplies fatigue and interruption.

The camp’s 5-on-5 scrimmage supplied no shortcut. Coach Jordan Ott ended the session with NBA officials present and the score tied. That result says the workout was serving several purposes at once, including maintaining rotation rhythm and giving roster hopefuls time. It does not rank Ighodaro against Maluach. A tied scrimmage is a scoreboard refusing to do the scouting department’s work.

The next meaningful checkpoint comes when Phoenix opens the preseason at Detroit on October 5. One exhibition will not validate a mechanical adjustment, just as one practice cannot disprove it. It can provide the first competitive setting for judging whether the elbow cue survives the rest of basketball.

For Ighodaro, the challenge is therefore precise. The Suns need to know whether the extra trips that arrived last season can become worthwhile possessions. His opportunity has grown, his accuracy has fallen, and camp has supplied one concrete change to examine. The answer will come through repetitions, not the elegance of the instruction.

Sources

Arizona Republic: Suns camp report