It has been a tumultuous few days for the Phoenix Suns. First, the Big Three is reunited once again to play it its 11th game of the season, then a brutal 120-111 loss to the Indiana Pacers is compounded by a sudden groin injury to superstar Devin Booker.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Just when 14-12 Phoenix thought its luck was going to rise like the sun, dawn quickly approached.
Now, the Suns must face at least two games without Booker, starting with a Saturday night matchup against the Detroit Pistons.
Here are three things to watch as the Valley takes on Motor City:
How badly will Phoenix miss Devin Booker?
Despite enduring an extended shooting slump early in the season, 10-year veteran Devin Booker has kept the Suns steady despite a shaky, injury-riddled couple of months. He played in each of Phoenix’s 26 games this season before being sidelined with a left groin injury against the Pacers on Thursday.
Posting averages of 25.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.4 assists, Booker has been the team’s healthiest, most consistent player on the roster. Not only has he been tasked with being a secondary (and mostly primary) scorer as Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal missed stretches with injury, but he has been a stellar primary facilitator all season.
Tyus Jones on the Suns: "Our Big 3 do so much for us and we rely on them for a lot. But we also gotta be able to win games and create that identity….And for when injury does happen, we can still hang our hat on our pillars of how we want to play and what our identity is." pic.twitter.com/rLl5YrSM3s
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) December 21, 2024
Is defense becoming a concern in the Valley?
In their last six games, the Suns have a 2-4 record and a 120.5 defensive rating. Durant attributes it the lack of identity on that side of the ball to the team not being whole for a better part of the season. But is there a trend that needs to be recognized?
Their loss against the Pacers was eye-opening. The squad was healthy and yet a fast-paced, athletic Indiana offense was just too much for the Suns to handle. Durant is more impactful than even he may be willing to admit.
A 115.0 defensive rating on the season has ballooned to a 123.3 rating when Durant is not playing. It is a 113.5 with the 17-year forward in the lineup.
Detroit is another young, physical and athletic team that is eager to beat anyone in its path on any given night.
Who will step up in Booker’s absence?
It’s relatively hard to replace All-Star level production in a lineup eager to turn the season around, but someone on the Suns needs to step up in Booker’s absence.
Tyus Jones stepped up (and even exceeded production) in Beal’s most recent absence. Can the point guard (averaging 6.9 assists per game) step up and produce to Booker’s 25.1 per-game scoring production?
“We’ve been really trying to get him more aggressive in general,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said.
The main guard that needs to step up for the Suns is Bradley Beal who, in the middle of hectic trade rumors surrounding Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, hasn’t produced to the level that his price tag would entail.
Beal is averaging 17.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in just 16 games this season. The three-time All-Star’s season high in points this season is 28 in a loss against Sacramento and has only eclipsed 20 points in four other games.
Budenholzer mentioned pregame that he also expects Beal to be more aggressive with his shot along with Jones.
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Reporter Connor Moreno covers the Phoenix Suns for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @cmorenosports, and on Bluesky, @cloading.bsky.social
