Suns guard Bradley Beal, who is dealing with a left hamstring strain, will miss his fifth consecutive game on Wednesday vs. Boston, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays (Twitter video link).
According to head coach Mike Budenholzer, who spoke to reporters on Tuesday, Beal has yet to take part in any 5-on-5 scrimmages but is doing on-court workouts and moving through the necessary steps in his recovery process: “He’s ramping up his court work. We feel like he’s making good progress. … The next few days are big. We’ll just see how he progresses each day.”
As Rankin writes for The Arizona Republic, the Suns are riding a four-game winning streak with Beal on the shelf. The team is leaning more on Kevin Durant and Devin Booker for scoring and play-making while surrounding those two stars with more defensive-minded role players.
Obviously, when he gets healthy, Beal will have a spot in the rotation, Rankin writes, but it remains to be seen what exactly that role will look like. Phoenix has been thriving with younger guards like Collin Gillespie and Ryan Dunn doing the “dirty work” next to Booker in the backcourt, so the team may ask him to slot into a similar role.
Here’s more out of Phoenix:
- The Suns have been playing a fun style of basketball during their current four-game winning streak and have finally looked like the team that got off to an 8-1 start in the fall, according to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports, who considers whether Phoenix has turned a corner and whether or not it has happened too late in the season to make a difference.
- The Suns are aware that they’ll need to waive a player from their 15-man standard roster in order to promote Gillespie from his two-way contract in order to make him postseason-eligible, Budenholzer said on Tuesday. However, the Suns’ coach said the team hasn’t discussed that scenario yet (Twitter link via Rankin). Since Gillespie won’t reach his active game limit before the end of the regular season, Phoenix doesn’t need to make a roster decision for at least a couple more weeks.
- Grayson Allen returned to action on Monday vs. Milwaukee after missing six games due to a foot strain he described as “frustrating,” per Bourguet (Twitter video link). “Took me longer than I thought (to recover),” Allen said. The veteran wing contributed three points and a pair of rebounds in 12 minutes against the Bucks.
- Suns center Mason Plumlee was also available on Monday after being inactive for two games due to a left quad strain, but he didn’t see any action. Plumlee said ahead of the Bucks game that an MRI on the quad revealed a “small tear” and he was advised to sit out for seven-to-10 days to avoid making it worse (Twitter video link via Rankin).
Ryan Dunn should sacrifice precisely 0 minutes to Bradley Beal when he returns.
Apparently (based on Bud’s comments) he doesn’t see the correlation between the win streak and Beal being out.
Gillespie has played really well, props to him!
Beal needs to come off the bench when he returns… But i guess his ego will be too big for that…
This franchise needs a total rebuild, this playoff run the 9th or 10 spot will not change a losing season. Suns have no big-time big man in the middle, a power forward (enforcer type) and a solid point guard. Just to make a deal to make a deal will not work. Management and ownership need to do a 5 year rebuild ala OKC, Houston what do they have to lose so you deal a Durant, Beal and even Booker. But at least get something for them to show the fans that this ownership and management team have what it takes to put a solid team on the court. Start playing and re-build for the 2030 season. Then maybe this franchise will be a top five franchise instead of a bottom five team show some progress instead of being an embarrassment.
There is no scenario that trading Booker makes sense. This team’s rebuild is not comparable to OKC or Houston because they have no control over any of their picks until 2032.
I think the point desertdawg is trying to make with trading Booker, Durant and Beal (although Beal would be hard to trade) is that you’d get a bunch of first round picks and young players. Might even be able to get some of their own picks back depending who they traded with. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong to trade Booker. If I were a Suns fan it would be hard for me to see him go. At the same time this team isn’t going to be able to sign any free agents or get better through the draft as it stands. I guess I’d first try to see what I could get for Durant and see if Beal is even moveable. If I couldn’t do much with that to make the team a contender then it would be time for the nuclear option and explore Booker trades.
Might be delusional, but I see 0 point in trading either Booker or KD. Together without Beal this year they are 13-3, and back in 23 we took 2 from the Nuggets (most of any team). They have potential, our FO just has yet to build around that successfully. If we can find a team dumb enough to take Beal and add a few more roleplayers and solid defenders, we can put together a solid run next year. Easily a 50 win team if we can put the right pieces around them.
Say we can’t find a Beal trade, then it might be time to move KD. If we move KD, I think Beal will want out and be willing to waive the NTC to almost any team. No matter what tho, Booker stays.
Right now Suns are the 10th team. Considering they are undefeated against Clippers and TWolves. Doesn’t matter who they play. In first round it can be OKC or Houston. Suns haven’t beaten either. Probably means Rockets is better way for them. In a lost season.
Curious to see who will be cut. Most likely an expiring contract (with/without team option for next year).
That gives Micic, Mason Plumlee, Tyus Jones, Damion Lee, Monte Morris and Bol Bol…
Out of those six, Micic barely played while Damion Lee did only 6 minutes per game. Both are candidate but I guess Micic makes most sense? Unless there is a season ending injury to any of the other 4 (which is I guess why they wait)
The only reason the Suns would cut someone instead of Micic is they can use his Team Option for salary matching in a Trade before free agency. He is obviously going back to Europe otherwise.
Morris hasnt played in two months due to injury, he could be the cut just due to availability, but otherwise they’d prefer him over Lee or Micic. Lee would probably be the odd-man out if everyone is healthy.