Suns shooting guard Damion Lee injured the meniscus in his right knee during a workout at Phoenix’s practice facility and will be sidelined indefinitely, the team announced in a press statement. Further details of the exact nature of the injury were not revealed.
Lee re-signed with the Suns this summer on a two-year, veteran’s minimum contract following a productive 2022/23 season with the team. The 6’5″ swingman has a player option for the 2024/25 season. He had been expected to play rotation minutes as a sharpshooting wing for a top-heavy Phoenix team.
Last year, the 30-year-old carved out a major rotation role with a fourth-seeded Phoenix squad. Across 74 regular season contests (20.4 MPG), Lee averaged 8.2 PPG on .442/.445/.904 shooting splits, along with 3.0 RPG and 1.3 APG.
While this is certainly a blow, Phoenix still has plenty of depth on the wing even with Lee out. Beyond All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker, the team also has Grayson Allen, Josh Okogie, Eric Gordon, Yuta Watanabe, Keita Bates-Diop, and Nassir Little at its disposal at the shooting guard and small forward spots.
Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic notes that the team is currently carrying 17 players on its 15-man standard roster, meaning it will need to release or trade two of them prior to the start of the regular season.
Phoenix going to be an early exit. Besides KD, Beal and Booker everyone else on their team are straight bums