Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer was encouraged by the status of Devin Booker at practice Tuesday as the star guard deals with right ankle soreness.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“Devin was great today. I think he looked as he was ready to go,” Budenholzer said of Booker, who missed the last two preseason games with the injury.
Devin Booker (missed last two games with ankle soreness) getting up shots at #Suns practice pic.twitter.com/oO3Rk08Tkw
— Burn City Suns ☀️ (@BurnCitySuns) October 15, 2024
The Suns (3-1 in preseason) are also dealing with injuries to starting center Jusuf Nurkić (left middle finger), backup guard Grayson Allen (Achilles soreness) and reserve forward Josh Okogie (hamstring tightness).
Nurkić has missed all four preseason games with his injury that was suffered during a scrimmage during the first week of training camp. Allen played in the first preseason game, but has been out since.
“Nurk hasn’t had any contact, hasn’t done any basketball. He’s been doing a great job with his conditioning, but there’s nothing like playing basketball,” Budenholzer said. “Really the same thing for Grayson. (He) really hasn’t done basketball things (since playing the Los Angeles Lakers in Palm Desert on Oct. 6).
“I think those guys, it’s going to take them a little bit more, but today was a great first step.”
Okogie hurt himself in last Friday’s preseason loss to the Detroit Pistons and missed Sunday’s win over the Denver Nuggets.
“He’s still more in the rehab process, so he didn’t participate in practice,” Budenholzer said of Okogie.
Devin Booker (ankle soreness): looked great in practice
Jusuf Nurkić (left middle finger): “hasn’t done any contact,” but doing great job with conditioning
Grayson Allen (Achilles soreness): hasn’t returned to basketball activities
Josh Okogie (hamstring): still rehabbing
— Burn City Suns ☀️ (@BurnCitySuns) October 15, 2024
The Suns conclude the preseason at home on Thursday against the Lakers and don’t begin the regular season until Oct. 23 against the Los Angeles Clippers. Budenholzer said the Suns scrimmaged today and detailed what he is trying to focus on over the next eight days leading up to the season as a coach.
“Trying to not have the players kill me. That’s a lot of days without a game for NBA guys,” Budenholzer joked. “There’s some execution stuff that we tried to clean up today. I think (we’re) trying to keep adding to (our) defensive toolbox. There’s special situations that you got to touch on to get ready for a game.
“It’s a long year. You keep building on it, but execution, both offensively and defensively, and just keep adding to what we do.”
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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
