For the first time all season, the Phoenix Suns, who have lost two straight and three of four, will have their full arsenal of weapons tomorrow night against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Suns will be getting back Bol Bol (ankle), Nassir Little (knee) and Udoka Azubuike (illness) tomorrow night against the Lakers, according to the team’s injury report and coach Frank Vogel.
This means only Damion Lee, who has missed the entire season after undergoing right meniscus surgery in the offseason, will be out.
#Suns OFFICIAL injury report for tomorrow at #Lakers
Damion Lee (right meniscus surgery) OUT
No one else https://t.co/6LAeagFnbe— Brendan Mau (@brendan_mau) January 11, 2024
Phoenix, 19-18 overall, is 2-4 in games when all three of its Big 3 plays, but now everyone will get to see for the first time how a full-game rotation looks around them.
As the Suns search for answers to correct their historically bad fourth quarters, Bol, Little and Azubuike all could see minutes in the rotation. The Suns’ bench players have spoke a lot of times this season about how Vogel is willing to give them opportunities even after they have been sitting on the bench for a while. Players like Devin Booker have called the Suns’ bench unit “the stay ready crew.”
Bol figures to make the biggest instant impact. He had missed two straight games due to a right ankle sprain suffered during the Suns’ 113-97 Jan. 5 victory over the Miami Heat. Bol entered this game having scored in double figures in two straight games, but only played 10 minutes against Miami due to the injury.
Here’s what Vogel said about Bol (via Rankin):
“Bol had picked up some momentum with three positive games. We’re excited to get him back in there.”
Frank Vogel on Bol Bol, who posted 11 points, 9 rebounds vs. Blazers, 14 points (6-of-7 FGs, 2-2 on 3s), five boards vs. Clippers and 2-2 FGs vs. Heat before ankle injury #Suns pic.twitter.com/1UIbLoLWZ1
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) January 10, 2024
Little will be back after Vogel has said he has been dealing with tendinitis in his knee that has occasional flare-ups, so he has been in and out of being available for games for the past couple weeks. Little has not logged any minutes since the Suns’ Dec. 27 victory over the Houston Rockets. In the 23 contests he has played in this season, Little is averaging 5.2 points and 2.6 rebounds on 48.4% shooting.
Azubuike, a two-way player (can only be active for 50 regular season games), has been inactive the past three games, despite seeing some minutes in the rotation the previous few games. Jusuf Nurkić was benched five minutes into the second half in Monday’s disastrous 138-111 loss to the Loss Angeles Clippers in favor of Drew Eubanks. Azubuike had a few games where he played the backup center role ahead of Eubanks, who finished Monday’s game with 0 points, four rebounds and two blocks in 16 minutes, so that might be the case tomorrow.
The Lakers (19-19) are already 3-0 against the Suns this season, but Phoenix did not have the full Big 3 healthy in any of these games.
Lakers’ injury report:
Statuses of LeBron James and Anthony Davis for tomorrow’s Lakers vs. Suns matchup
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
