Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Williams Set To Return After Missing Practice

January 26th, 2021 at 10:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After missing two Suns practices to attend to personal matters, head coach Monty Williams intends to coach Phoenix against the Thunder on Wednesday, according to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic.

The 8-7 Suns will host the 7-9 Thunder in the first game of a back-to-back homestand.

“We have to make sure we keep our foot on the gas and not let up at all,” center Deandre Ayton said in discussing the Suns’ recent swoon, which has featured four losses in five games. “We definitely have some answers and we have to redeem ourselves.”

Pacific Notes: J. Smith, Booker, Wiseman, Dudley

January 23rd, 2021 at 9:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

Suns rookie Jalen Smith confirmed that his recent absence was a result of testing positive for COVID-19, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Phoenix had three games postponed this month because of a shortage of eligible players due to health and safety protocols.

“I had COVID for like 10 days,” Smith said. “For like those first, I’d say eight, I didn’t experience any symptoms, but then like basically the last night before getting off, my smell was faint and my taste was faint, but I got my taste back and my smell is starting to come back a little bit now.”

The virus isn’t the only obstacle that Smith, the 10th pick in last year’s draft, has encountered during his first NBA experience. He suffered an ankle injury during a workout last month and has only gotten into two games. He was cleared to return January 6, but tested positive the next day.

“Mentally, I’m fine,” he said. “It’s a process. I still got to learn a lot of new stuff that was put in while I was out, but it’s a part of basketball. I feel fine. it’s just a matter of me getting my wind back. Just continuing to get back into the motion with the team.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Suns star Devin Booker suffered a left hamstring strain Friday that will force him to miss tonight’s game and possibly longer, tweets Gerald Bourguet of The Step Back. “We’re really not sure,” coach Monty Williams said. “What I’ve been told is it could be day-to-day. Depending on how he feels, it could be another week.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr is coordinating the minutes for rookie center James Wiseman to get him on the court as much as possible with the team’s veteran leaders, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. So far, the No. 2 pick has played 267 minutes with Stephen Curry and 182 minutes with Draymond Green. “If we’re going to be a championship contender the next few years, those guys have to learn to play together,” Kerr explained.
Lakers forward Jared Dudley is close to returning from a calf injury that has kept him out of action since January 8, according to Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register (Twitter link). Coach Frank Vogel said Dudley is probably “a game or two out” from being available. The 35-year-old has played in just six games this season.

Nearly Half Of NBA’s Teams Have Open Roster Spots

January 20th, 2021 at 12:16pm CST by Luke Adams

After the NBA’s transactions wire remained relatively quiet for the first few weeks of the 2020/21 season, teams have begun making moves with a little more frequency as of late.

While one recent transaction – the four-team trade that sent James Harden to Brooklyn – was clearly a higher-impact move than the rest, a number of clubs have made smaller changes to their rosters by waiving players this week. The Raptors and Wizards cut big men Alex Len and Anzejs Pasecniks from their 15-man rosters, while the Sixers opened up a two-way slot by releasing Dakota Mathias.

As a result, there are now 12 teams across the NBA that have at least one open 15-man roster spot. One of those teams – the Trail Blazers – also has an open two-way contract slot, as do two others, leaving just 16 clubs who are carrying the maximum of 17 players.

With so many clubs facing roster shortages recently and the NBA and NBPA discussing the possibility of adding a third two-way slot to rosters for the rest of the season, it’s a little surprising that more teams aren’t making use of all 17 available spots, but it will likely just be a matter of time before those many of those openings get filled.

Here’s the current breakdown of teams with open roster spots:

Teams with an open 15-man roster spot:

Brooklyn Nets
- Note: The Nets have three open roster spots and will need to fill at least two of them within two weeks of completing the Harden trade.
Charlotte Hornets
Los Angeles Clippers *
Los Angeles Lakers *
Milwaukee Bucks *
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans
Portland Trail Blazers
San Antonio Spurs
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards

Note: An asterisk (*) denotes that the team can’t currently sign a 15th man due to the hard cap.

Teams with an open two-way slot:

Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers

Suns Optimistic They'll Play Monday In Memphis

January 16th, 2021 at 9:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Suns‘ last three games have been postponed due to health and safety protocols, but a league source told Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic that Monday’s contest in Memphis “looks good to go.” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins is also optimistic that the game will be played. “All I know is that everything is kind of full go right now,” he said. “There’s some final checkmarks that need to be taken care of, obviously, for Phoenix to get back on track, but we’re all hopeful we are able to play on Monday.”

Pacific Notes: Bridges, Ramsey, Lakers, Kings

January 16th, 2021 at 11:59am CST by JD Shaw

Suns forward Mikal Bridges discussed a variety of topics with Spencer Davies of BasketballNews.com, including the early buzz for Most Improved Player, playing with Chris Paul and his relationship with Deandre Ayton.

Bridges, a 24-year-old defensive-minded player, has improved his offensive game and starts alongside Jae Crowder and Ayton in Phoenix’s frontcourt. He scored a career-high 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting (including 6-of-8 from deep) in the team’s game against Indiana a week ago, averaging 15.1 points per contest in 11 games so far this season.

“I was just hoopin’, man,” Bridges said of his performance. “Just playing basketball. Reading things, being aggressive, taking shots when I’m open. The Pacers do a lot of things out there, so still keying in on the other end, but just being more aggressive and taking the shots where I thought I could be aggressive.”

Phoenix has opened the season with a 7-3 record. The team’s last three games have been postponed because it didn’t have the required minimum of eight players available due to health and safety protocols, as noted in our new 2020/21 NBA Game Postponement Tracker.

Here are some other notes from the Pacific Division today:

Kings guard Jahmi’us Ramsey will be re-evaluated in 2-to-3 weeks after undergoing an MRI that confirmed a left groin strain, the team announced. Ramsey, the No. 43 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, has only appeared in four games this season.
The Lakers have made the most of their somewhat limited time together, building their chemistry on the court to start the season, Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register writes. COVID-19 has restricted teams this season, but at 11-3 (and five straight wins), the Lakers look to be maximizing their situation so far. “I think it’s all about having fun and being happy with your job,” Dennis Schroder said. “So I think everybody when they wake up, they like to come to work and I think that’s pretty important for us and I’ll always be on the sidelines and just talking and trying to get everybody engaged.”
De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton will likely be the only Kings players untouchable in trade talks this season, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee writes. Fox, 23, is coming off a season where he averaged 21.1 points and 6.8 assists per game, while Haliburton, 20, was drafted by the team No. 12 overall last fall.

Pacers/Suns Saturday Game Postponed

January 14th, 2021 at 3:44pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA is postponing Saturday’s scheduled contest between the Pacers and Suns, per a team press release (Twitter link). The NBA announced that COVID-19 health and safety protocols will preclude Phoenix from being able to field at least eight players at Phoenix Suns Arena this weekend.

In less than a month of action, this will be the tenth game of the 2020/21 season to be postponed as a result of coronavirus-related health and safety protocols. The Suns’ game against the Warriors scheduled for Friday was previously postponed yesterday.

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix tweets that no Suns players themselves have recorded positive coronavirus tests, which would indicate that enough players are quarantining as a result of contact tracing that the game will still need to be postponed.

Two More NBA Games Postponed

January 13th, 2021 at 5:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

Health and safety protocols have forced a pair of Friday games to be postponed, the NBA announced in a press release (Twitter link). The game between the Wizards and Pistons in Detroit and the contest between the Warriors and Suns in Phoenix have both been called off.

“Because of ongoing contact tracing within the Wizards and Suns, the teams will not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with Friday night’s games,” the league stated.

Washington and Phoenix, which played each other Monday, both had games postponed tonight for the same reason. The Wizards were scheduled to host the Jazz, while the Suns had a home game with the Hawks.

The latest postponements bring the total to nine for the season, with eight of those coming since Sunday. This marks the first time the league has postponed a game two days in advance.

Wednesday’s Suns/Hawks Game Postponed

January 13th, 2021 at 10:29am CST by Luke Adams

Wednesday night’s game in Phoenix between the Suns and Hawks has been postponed, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

As of Tuesday night, the Suns only had one player (Jalen Smith) listed as being out due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. The Hawks are missing several players due to injuries, but had no players in the protocols.

However, Phoenix’s most recent game took place on Monday in Washington, and the Wizards had their Wednesday game postponed as a result of having too many players tied up in a contact tracing investigation. Sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that the Wizards have positive COVID-19 tests on their roster and that the contact tracing affecting Washington has now extended to the Suns.

The total number of postponed NBA games this week is beginning to add up. After postponing a game between Houston and Oklahoma City back on December 23, the NBA was able to play all of its games as scheduled up until this Sunday, when the Celtics/Heat contest was affected.

Today’s Hawks/Suns postponement represents the sixth time since Sunday that has a game has had to be pushed back, and the seventh time in total this season. Three contests (Hawks/Suns; Celtics/Magic; and Jazz/Wizards) that were initially on the schedule for tonight won’t be played.

Kaminsky Thrilled Suns Wanted Him Back

January 8th, 2021 at 9:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Suns rookie Jalen Smith didn’t make the team’s three-game road trip that began Friday in Detroit due to health and safety protocols, according to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. Smith, the 10th overall pick, hadn’t played since Phoenix’s second game against Sacramento because of an ankle injury.
Forward Frank Kaminsky made his feelings apparent about the Suns before he re-joined them, Gina Mizell of the team’s website writes. Phoenix declined a $5MM option on his contract but claimed him after the Kings waived him late in training camp. “For some reason, people tell you, ‘Don’t let it be known where you want to go or where you want to play,’” Kaminsky said. “But I don’t care. I wanted to play here. I wanted to be with this team and with this group of people.”

Nader Ready To Make Suns Debut

January 5th, 2021 at 9:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Suns coach Monty Williams said Abdel Nader is “a full go” after recovering from a concussion, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. Nader hasn’t played since the preseason after taking hard fall at Utah. Nader was tossed into the Chris Paul trade with the Thunder and had his $1.75MM salary for this season guaranteed in November.