Suns rookie is stacking muscle

There’s no shortage of entry points into the story of the Phoenix Suns this season. The contrast is striking. On one hand, the infusion of youth brings a sense of curiosity and renewal. Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro enter their sophomore campaigns with the weight of potential hovering over them. On the other, fresh rookies arrive, stirring a buzz that feels different from years past. It’s less about patching holes, more about building something that lasts.

Among them, perhaps the most compelling is Khaman Maluach, the 10th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, better known by the moniker “Man Man.” At 19, he looks every bit the part of a player filling into his frame. The whispers about added size this summer weren’t smoke; on Monday, he stamped it himself: 261, 263 pounds, depending on when you caught him.

When you scour the internet for Man Man’s weight, you end up in a numbers maze.

ESPN lists him at 250. NBADraft.net bumps him to 255, the same site that once had Deandre Ayton tagged at 260 in 2018. The Suns’ Summer League roster slotted Maluach at 253. So which is it? Depends who you ask. But if Monday’s weigh-in holds true, Maluach is tipping the scale at 261, maybe 263. That’s ten pounds of added muscle draped over his already long, athletic frame.

The bulk matters. It’s survival gear for a league that punishes thin bodies and dares you to keep pace. The NBA is a collision of size and speed, and Maluach will feel both before the year is out. That’s the adjustment. Not whether he can run or jump — we know he can — but whether he can endure.

This season won’t be about dominance, it will be about development. Growing into his body. Learning the rhythm of the grind. Finding ways to handle the nightly physicality without losing himself in it. He’s just 19. Still a baby by basketball standards.

And the story of his rookie year won’t be written in stat lines but in patience, the kind that lets him stumble, recalibrate, and slowly become what he’s supposed to be.