80 FUN & GAMES SEPTEMBER 25, 2025 | WWW.BESTOFPHOENIX2025.C0M | BEST OF PHOENIX 2025 B E S T M A L E AT H L E T E KETEL MARTE It’s been quite the lightning-rod year for Marte, who remains one of the most under- rated players in baseball. In June, the base- ball world rallied around Marte after a Chicago White Sox fan ignorantly heckled him about his mother, who died in a car crash early in his career. Public opinion swung the other way in August when reports revealed the team and his teammates had grumbled about the 31-year-old Marte taking too many days off, especially at crucial points of the past two seasons. Perhaps overlooked due to the drama, though, is that Marte has again been the best player on the field. He’s put together another terrific season and has a good shot of receiving MVP votes. Gripe all you want about his body-maintenance days and how the team coddles him. Arizona may have missed the playoffs the last two seasons, but they’d have been far worse off without Marte in the lineup as often as he has been. e e e B E S T F E M A L E AT H L E T E ALYSSA THOMAS There are several strong candidates for this title on the rebuilt and resurgent Phoenix Mercury. Newbie Satou Sabally led the team in scoring, while holdover Kahleah Copper repeated her performance from her breakout 2024 season. But Alyssa Thomas, acquired in the offseason from the Connecticut Sun, is the obvious winner. The 33-year-old peren- nial MVP candidate not only led the team in assists, but she also led the entire WNBA by a wide margin. She had the most triple- doubles in the league, including three in as many games in early August. Turning the page on the Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner chapter of Mercury history was a tall task, but Thomas has helped the team soar into the future. e e e B E S T C O A C H KENNY DILLINGHAM Dillingham might have claimed this honor by default, considering every other coach in town has either been fired or leads teams that make you want to throw your remote at the TV. But the 36-year-old head football coach at ASU more than earned these flowers. Last year, he led what many believed would be a moribund Sun Devils team to a Big 12 Confer- ence title. Dillingham was the glue that held that run together, a coach whose enthusiasm was clearly genuine — remember him ecstati- cally disappearing into a crowd of field- storming students mid-postgame interview? — and whose understanding of the new economics of college sports was refreshing. After leading ASU to a College Football Playoff appearance, and nearly to an upset of highly ranked Texas, Dillingham has breathed life back into a fan base that sorely needed something to cheer for. e e e B E S T O N - C O U R T Q U A G M I R E PHOENIX SUNS A mere four years ago, the Phoenix Suns were coming off a thrilling trip to the NBA Finals, the franchise’s first shot at a long- sought championship since the 1990s. The Suns lost that series, but the future looked bright. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t. Instead of sticking with their promising core, the Suns and new owner Mat Ishbia mortgaged the future in trades for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, paying that duo and star Devin Booker big money for embarrassing playoff exits and, last year, a losing season. This summer, the Suns finally decided to blow it up rather than patch it up. In an effort to reboot the franchise, the Suns dealt away Durant and cut Beal, though the team still owes the latter nearly $100 million. But with perilously few first-round draft picks going forward and now on their fourth head coach in as many years, expect the next few years to be bumpy in Suns Land — especially if Ishbia doesn’t learn to excuse himself from basket- ball decisions. e e e B E S T O F F - C O U R T Q U A G M I R E SUNS VS. SHEREE WRIGHT Who do the Suns most hate to see coming? LeBron James? Luka Doncic? Maybe on the court, but off of it — or, more specifically, in court — the Suns are probably pretty tired of hearing from Sheree Wright. In the past year, the Phoenix attorney has filed five federal discrimination lawsuits against the Suns and Mercury, both of which are owned by Mat Ishbia. They allege age discrimination, sex discrimination, race discrimination and generally make working for the Suns sound as bad as rooting for them. That is, if Wright can be trusted. As the Suns frequently point out, Wright has been sanctioned by the State Bar of Arizona on multiple occasions. No other labor attorneys seem to be jumping to represent clients in cases against the Suns. All of those cases are still pending, so it may not be until 2026 that we find out who’s full of it and who isn’t. e e e B E S T P R E D I C TA B L E C ATA S T R O P H E CORBIN BURNES It’s a tale as old as time — or, at least, as old as the Diamondbacks. Coming off an encour- aging season, a frugal ownership decides to swing big for a star pitcher. Then, seemingly as punishment for that hubristic aspiration, the baseball gods curdle that signing faster than milk left in the Arizona sun. It happened with Zack Greinke, who helped the Diamondbacks to one playoff berth in four seasons before the team traded him, sending money to cover part of his gargan- tuan salary. It happened with Madison Bumgarner, who sucked immediately after signing with Arizona and who ultimately was cut with more than a year left on his contract. When the Diamondbacks signed star pitcher Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210 million contract, why would anyone expect anything different? Sure enough, Burnes blew out his elbow after 11 starts, requiring surgery that could keep him out through the end of next season. It sucked, and every jaded Diamondbacks fan saw it coming. Then again, what is baseball if not a constant reminder of the futility of hope? e e e B E S T C I N D E R E L L A S T O R Y ASU FOOTBALL How to describe the last season of Sun Devils football? Maybe in the parlance of TV’s “The Good Place”: Holy forking shirtballs. The Sun Devils started the 2024 season coming off a three-win season and entering a tough new conference. They still felt the sting of penalties from the recruiting scandal that unfolded under previous head coach Herm Edwards. Rather than play doormat, though, ASU played juggernaut. In their first year in the Big 12 Conference, the Sun Devils specialized in eye-catching wins, powered by the arm of quarterback Sam Leavitt and the punishing, untackleable running style of tailback Cam Skattebo. ASU shocked the football world by landing a spot in the Big 12 title game and then shocked it more by demolishing Iowa State to earn a berth in the College Football Playoff. The clock finally tolled at midnight in a two-overtime playoff loss to third-ranked Texas on New Year’s Day, but that run may be a sign of what’s to come in Tempe. After all, at the end of the fairy tale, Cinderella didn’t go back to sweeping floors. e e e B E S T R I D E I N T O T H E A R I Z O N A S U N S E T DIANA TAURASI Phoenix has had its share of sports greats: its Barkleys, Nashes and Fitzgeralds. But no one matched the combination of longevity and greatness of erstwhile Phoenix Mercury legend Diana Taurasi. Coyotes favorite Shane Doan hung around for 20 seasons like Taurasi, but Doan didn’t happen to also be the best player his league had ever seen. Taurasi was. A fierce competitor with a killer instinct, Taurasi put the WNBA on the map long before Caitlin Clark began sinking threes from NBA range. After an unrivaled career in Phoenix — three WNBA titles, the league’s career scoring title, the admiration of every hooper on the planet — the 43-year- old finally hung up her sneaks earlier this year. She defined a city, a team and a league, and there may never be another like her. e e e B E S T WA Y T O G E T T O A S U F O O T B A L L G A M E S WATER TAXI Any time the Arizona State University Sun Devils play is an exciting day. What’s less thrilling is figuring out how to get to Moun- tain America Stadium, where traffic is a night-
