**Collin Gillespie’s Patient Path to NBA Success Pays Off with the Phoenix Suns**
PHILADELPHIA — Collin Gillespie knows what it takes to wait for the right opportunity. He understood this in high school, entering his senior year at Archbishop Wood relatively unheralded in the Catholic League, with college offers only from Albany, Maine, and Holy Family.
He knew it again as a freshman at Villanova, watching for six weeks during December and January before returning to a team that went on to win the national championship in 2018. And he knew it once more as a rookie in the NBA, patiently rehabbing a broken leg that delayed the start of his professional career.
So, on Tuesday, as the 26-year-old prepared to play his first NBA game in Philadelphia—three and a half years after going undrafted in 2022—the Huntingdon Valley native was comfortable with the path he had taken and the progress he has made.
“I’ve learned a lot about the NBA game since being here with Denver,” Gillespie said from the Phoenix Suns locker room before a 116-110 win over the 76ers. “I’ve gotten valuable experience on the court as well. So I think it’s just experience, being able to learn while being off the floor, while being on the floor, just a little bit of everything, trying to continue to get better every day.”
Gillespie has made the most of all that waiting, and now he’s making the most of the minutes he has earned. He is currently averaging 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists for the suddenly resurgent Suns. Though there has been chatter about him in the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year race, Tuesday marked the 25th straight game he has started for Phoenix, fitting in splendidly alongside high-scoring Devin Booker.
In Tuesday’s game, Gillespie scored 12 points on 3-for-6 shooting, grabbed four rebounds, and dished out four assists in 28 minutes. He put up 22 points the night before in a win at Brooklyn, helping the Suns to an 8-3 record in January.
Impressively, Gillespie has translated the flashes he showed during the 2023-24 season with Denver—and a 33-game stint last year—into sustained production, now playing 28.1 minutes per game and looking every bit the part of an NBA regular. This seamless adaptation to higher levels of competition is no surprise for those familiar with his journey.
During his collegiate career at Villanova, Gillespie did a bit of everything across 156 games. He scored 1,858 points, averaging 15 or more points per game in both the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons. In his final year, he shot an impressive 41.5 percent from 3-point range. Yet, despite these numbers, he went undrafted and entered the league through a two-way contract.
After signing with the Denver Nuggets, a leg fracture in a workout at Villanova cut his rookie season—on a championship team—short before it even began. But Gillespie used the time to learn by watching, much like he did as a freshman in college when injured.
“There’s a lot that you could learn about the game, about yourself, about teammates, other teams, especially when you’re just sitting and watching,” he said. “I did it when I was in college when I got hurt, so I kind of have that experience of being able to do that.”
While some may question Gillespie’s physical measurables—standing 6-foot-1, questions about his quickness or defense—there is no doubt about his makeup. Kyle Lowry, the 76ers guard and Villanova alum, calls him a “winner.” Suns coach Jordan Ott echoes that sentiment: “Ultracompetitive, has won at every level, fearless.”
Gillespie extracted everything he could from his time sitting in Denver, then did the same with limited minutes as a Nugget, and then evolved from a two-way player with the Suns to a key rotation piece on a team aiming for the playoffs.
In the 2023-24 season with Denver, he averaged 3.6 points in 9.4 minutes over 24 games. Last year with Phoenix, he improved to 5.9 points in 14.0 minutes across 33 games (nine starts), while dominating at times in the G League with 20 points per game averages. This season, he has stayed with the big club all year and has been a significant contributor to a Suns team once thought to be rebuilding after firing coach Mike Budenholzer in April and trading Kevin Durant in July.
“I always go back to his ability to shoot off the dribble, which I think is an elite skill of his and something that’s needed in today’s game with so many pick-and-rolls and so many drives,” Ott said. “He’s able to defend his position for his size. You cannot target him. He became super competitive to take those challenges, and now he just got the opportunity.”
Gillespie’s performance confirms that last year’s numbers weren’t just a product of opportunism on a sub-.500 squad. He averaged 20.8 points per 100 possessions last year, and this year—playing with better teammates who command the ball more—he’s up to 23.2 points per 100 possessions. His assists remain steady at 8.4 per 100 possessions.
Defensively, Gillespie ranks eighth in the league with 1.4 steals per 48 minutes, trailing only the 76ers’ Tyrese Maxey, who leads the NBA at 2.1 steals per game.
He credits his rapid improvement to the mindset he developed at Villanova, where “we treated it like it was our job in college, and now it is our job.” The success of his Villanova peers in the NBA vindicates that mentality.
Now, Gillespie is adapting to what the professional game requires and, as he has done everywhere else, he is flourishing.
“I think I know my role,” he said. “I play with really good players. I play with Book, and he has so much gravity on the floor. Jalen [Green] has an immense amount of gravity on the floor, able to put a ton of pressure on the rim. So just being able to play off those guys, I feel like I’m pretty good in terms of just being able to find my role, whether I need to go out there and score, whether I need to go out there and find guys, get rebounds, kind of run the offense, or just contribute to winning in any way possible.”
Collin Gillespie’s journey from overlooked high school player to impactful NBA starter serves as a testament to patience, hard work, and seizing the moment when the opportunity finally arrives.
https://www.pottsmerc.com/2026/01/21/having-waited-and-learned-collin-gillespie-making-most-of-time-with-suns/