The Phoenix Suns will be without Devin Booker for some time as they look to make a playoff push in the home stretch of the regular season.
Booker is expected to be out for at least the next seven-to-10 days after suffering a right ankle sprain on Saturday, The Athletic reported.
The All-Star guard injured his ankle in the closing moments of the Suns’ loss to the Houston Rockets, rolling his ankle when he collided with teammate Royce O’Neale while backpedaling on defense. Booker remained down on the court for a few moments and was noticeably in pain, grabbing his ankle before limping to the locker room.
Even though Booker might be out for only a week, the Suns don’t have much margin for error as the season moves into its last full month of play. They fell to 35-26 with their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, dropping to seventh place in the Western Conference standings. The Sacramento Kings hold the tiebreaker over them for the sixth seed, the lowest possible seed to make the playoffs without having to play in the play-in tournament. The Suns only trail the New Orleans Pelicans by a game for the fifth seed, but the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors are within 2.5 games back of them.
Additionally, the Suns have a handful of games against some of the league’s top teams over the next two weeks. They face the league-leading Boston Celtics twice in that span, on top of having matchups against the Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks as part of that stretch.
The Suns have struggled when Booker’s been out this season. They’ve gone 4-7 in the games Booker’s missed, a notable drop from the 31-19 record they have when he’s in the lineup.
Phoenix has struggled to have its three stars all healthy at the same time for much of the season as well. Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Booker have only played 23 games together, going 14-9 when all three have played. They were playing better together as of late, though, going 12-5 in the 17 games they’ve played together since Jan. 11.
Booker is second on the team in scoring (27.5 points per game) and first in assists (6.8 per game), shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from deep this season, helping him earn the fourth All-Star nod of his career.
National Basketball Association
Phoenix Suns
Devin Booker
Get more from National Basketball Association Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
