THE Phoenix Suns will be without an All-Star guard Devin Booker for at least a week while he recovers from a sprained right ankle, by The Athletic. Booker missed the Suns’ last loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder On Sunday evening, he will be sidelined for 7 to 10 days while the ankle heals.
Booker was injured during Phoenix’s Saturday night loss to the Houston Rocketswhere he seemed to walk on Royce O’Neale’s foot while he kept Fred VanVleet. Booker immediately went down grabbing his right ankle and limped badly as he immediately returned to the locker room.
Being without Booker for any length of time isn’t ideal, but especially right now as Phoenix heads into a particularly tough stretch of games with matchups against the Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers and two encounters with first place Boston Celtics over the next week and a half. If Booker is out for this entire period, it will be increasingly difficult for the Suns to come out on the winning side. This is going to have a significant impact on the playoff seeding, as the Suns are only one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for seventh place in the West. They are also only 2.5 games ahead of the Warriors And Lakers, who occupy places no. 9 and no. 10. If Phoenix can’t get some wins next week, Booker could return to a team that will need to move up the standings if it wants to avoid play-in.
With Booker out, it’s going to put more responsibility on the shoulders of Kevin Durant And Bradley Beal, the latter being just two games removed from a hamstring injury. Beal has been in and out of the Phoenix lineup due to various injuries, and while he hasn’t been a mainstay in the starting lineup, his latest performance should provide some hope for the Suns. Beal finished with 31 points on 71.4% from the field and 60% from 3-point range in Phoenix’s loss to OKC. He and Durant helped lead the charge to cut a 24-point deficit, and while it didn’t result in a victory, it’s promising as the Suns face tough opponents without Booker next week.
