Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Sixers’ Embiid Out Tuesday, Simmons Undergoes Surgery

August 10th, 2020 at 4:26pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers issued a pair of injury updates on their two star players this afternoon, indicating that center Joel Embiid (left ankle) will miss Tuesday’s game vs. Phoenix, while guard/forward Ben Simmons underwent successful surgery in Philadelphia to remove a loose body from his left knee (Twitter links via Derek Bodner of The Athletic and Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer).

Simmons, whose procedure had been reported over the weekend, will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the Sixers indicated in today’s announcement. However, the expectation is that the former No. 1 overall pick will likely miss the rest of the season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

While Simmons’ outlook for the remainder of 2019/20 isn’t good, there’s optimism that Embiid’s ankle injury isn’t serious and that he’ll be back soon, Wojnarowski tweets. Even after tomorrow’s game, the 76ers have two more seeding contests on Wednesday and Friday, so Embiid will have a couple more opportunities to suit up before the playoffs begin next week.

Embiid’s unavailability for Tuesday is good news for the Suns, who are 6-0 in the bubble and are pushing hard to participate in a play-in tournament for the final postseason spot in the West. According to Bodner (Twitter link), Josh Richardson will also miss Tuesday’s game for rest purposes, while Al Horford (left knee soreness) and Tobias Harris (right ankle soreness) are considered questionable.

Ayton Misses COVID-19 Test, Receives Late Clearance For Monday's Game

August 10th, 2020 at 2:06pm CST by Luke Adams

It’s not an injury, but Suns center Deandre Ayton didn’t start this afternoon’s game vs. Oklahoma City because he missed his scheduled COVID-19 test on Sunday, tweets Gina Mizell. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links), Ayton was re-tested on Monday morning and received clearance to rejoin the team, arriving late to the game against the Thunder.

Kawakami: Green Was Taunting Suns, Not Tampering

August 10th, 2020 at 12:16pm CST by Luke Adams

Tim Kawakami of The Athletic argues that Draymond Green‘s comments about Devin Booker – which earned him a $50K fine – weren’t meant to tamper with Booker, but rather to taunt the Suns, a franchise the Warriors forward has criticized in the past.

Doncic, Porzingis, SGA Among Players Out For Monday’s Games

August 10th, 2020 at 11:09am CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks stars Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis won’t play in Monday’s game against Utah, according to the league’s official injury report. Dallas will also be without starting forward Dorian Finney-Smith.

Doncic and Porzingis are both listed out due to “injury recovery” — right ankle for Doncic and left knee for Porzingis. Finney-Smith, meanwhile, is dealing with a left hip strain.

At 42-30, the No. 7 Mavericks are two games behind the sixth-seeded Jazz (43-27), so today’s game has seeding implications. If the Mavs lose, they’ll be locked into the No. 7 seed in the West. Utah, just a half-game behind the No. 5 Thunder, could still move up a spot or two in the standings, though the team may prefer to remain at No. 6 if it means avoiding the Rockets in the first round. Houston has eliminated the Jazz in the postseason in each of the last two years.

Donovan Mitchell has also been downgraded from questionable to out for today’s game due to a left lower leg peroneal strain, according to the Jazz (via Twitter).

Meanwhile, per the league’s injury report, the Thunder will be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right calf contusion), Steven Adams (left lower leg contusion), Danilo Gallinari (left ankle injury maintenance), and Nerlens Noel (right ankle sprain), in addition to missing Dennis Schröder, who remains out for personal reasons after attending the birth of his child.

Those absences bode well for the Suns, who will need to remain undefeated in the bubble in order to keep pace in the race for the Western Conference’s final playoff spot. As we detailed earlier today, Phoenix won’t technically be eliminated from postseason contention with a loss, but it would make the path to a play-in spot a whole lot more difficult.

Grizzles, Blazers, Spurs, Suns Vying For Play-In Spots

August 10th, 2020 at 9:26am CST by Luke Adams

As a result of this past weekend’s games, we’re now assured of having our first-ever “play-in tournament” in the Western Conference, since there’s no way that the Grizzlies – or any other team that can finish at No. 8 – will finish more than four games ahead of the West’s No. 9 seed.

That won’t be the case in the East, where the Nets are locked into No. 7 and the Magic into No. 8, with the Wizards too far out of contention to force a play-in. But two teams out of the Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, Spurs, and Suns are set to participate in a play-in tournament in the West. The Kings and Pelicans have officially been eliminated from play-in contention.

That play-in tournament will essentially be a best-of-three series, with the No. 8 team being staked to a 1-0 advantage in the “series.” In other words, the No. 9 seed will need to win twice to earn the conference’s final playoff spot, while the No. 8 seed will only need to win once in two tries to make it through.

Here are the current standings in the West:

Seed	Team	Record	Games back	Games left
8	Grizzlies	33-38	–	BOS, MIL
9	Blazers	33-39	0.5	DAL, BKN
10	Spurs	31-38	1	HOU, UTA
11	Suns	31-39	1.5	OKC, PHI, DAL

The Grizzlies are the only team that fully controls its own destiny when it comes to claiming the No. 8 seed. Wins over Boston and Milwaukee would ensure that Memphis holds that spot, and a win in either one of those games would guarantee that the Grizzlies at least participate in the play-in tournament.

Those games – against two of the East’s top three teams – won’t be easy though, and if the Grizzlies lose both of them, the race will be wide open, with any of the three teams chasing them technically still in play for the No. 8 seed.

The Blazers, with the softest remaining schedule, still look like a good bet to participate in a play-in tournament, but they’ll need to finish strong — losing one of their two games would leave them vulnerable to being passed in the standings by the Spurs and Suns if those teams win out. If Phoenix and San Antonio both win out, the Suns would finish slightly ahead of the Spurs.

All four teams still alive for the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds play their final seeding games on Thursday, so we’ll know by the end of that day which teams will take part in the play-in. The most important game to watch on today’s schedule is Suns vs. Thunder. Phoenix won’t be eliminated from play-in contention with a loss, but it would make their path a whole lot more difficult.

What do you think? Which two teams do you expect to participate in the play-in tournament, and which club still do you expect to ultimately claim the No. 8 spot in the West?

Draymond Green Fined For Violating Anti-Tampering Rule

August 9th, 2020 at 11:40am CST by Arthur Hill

Warriors forward Draymond Green has been fined $50K for comments he made about the Suns‘ Devin Booker on TNT, the NBA announced on Twitter.

The league considers Green’s suggestion that Booker should force his way out of Phoenix so he can play for a better organization to be a violation of its anti-tampering rule. In announcing the fine, the league notes that before the current season, it “adopted a stricter enforcement approach for conduct relating to tampering, salary cap circumvention, and free agency timing rules, including with respect to the rule prohibiting player-to-player tampering.”

Green, who is serving as a studio host during the NBA’s restart, raised eyebrows Friday with pointed comments toward the Suns and his opinion on Booker’s future.

“It’s great to see Book playing well and Phoenix playing well, but get my man out of Phoenix,” he said. “It’s not good for him, it’s not good for his career. Sorry Chuck (Charles Barkley), but they’ve gotta get Book out of Phoenix. I need my man to go somewhere that he can play great basketball all of the time and win, because he’s that kind of player.”

Suns Notes: Playoff Race, Booker, Carter, Warren

August 9th, 2020 at 10:56am CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA’s best team since the season restarted seemed lucky to be invited to the Disney World complex at all. The Suns were 26-39 when the hiatus began and stuck in 13th place in the Western Conference. With five straight wins, they are the only unbeaten team in Orlando and are now in serious contention for a playoff spot.

“I could give you some coach-speak, but I don’t know,” coach Monty Williams said to Nick Friedell of ESPN after Saturday’s win over Miami. “I just think we have a group that wanted to come here and prove to the world that they were worthy of being here. They heard a lot of the stuff being said. I think when people say stuff about you, you want to prove them wrong. … We’ve been competitive all year; we’ve been a scrappy team. We play teams hard, we share the ball, we try to make the right plays. We’ve tried to stick to our DNA and not get outside of that.”

The Suns are a half-game behind the Trail Blazers for ninth place and a spot in the play-in series next weekend, and two games back of the eighth-place Grizzlies. It’s the first five-game winning streak for Phoenix since 2014, but with tough games left against the Thunder, Sixers and Mavericks, the players know they might have to stay perfect to break their postseason drought.

“A lot of guys grew up in these three or four months,” Ricky Rubio said. “It seems like a second season with all of them with the same coach, and it helps to see the growth with this team. We have more room to improve … but we have eight games, and we know we have to go 8-0.”

There’s more Suns news to pass along:

After Saturday’s game, Devin Booker reacted to Draymond Green‘s comments that he should force his way out of Phoenix to play for a winning organization, Friedell writes in the same story. “Since I’ve been in Phoenix, we haven’t had the win success that we had, but the support’s been there,” Booker said. “And this is what we owe to the fans, we owe to the organization. It’s been a long time for us and I think this bubble opportunity was big for us, and we’re taking advantage of it.”
One of the surprises has been the emergence of second-year guard Jevon Carter, who hit six 3-pointers and scored 20 points last night, Friedell adds. Carter was acquired from the Grizzlies in a minor trade last summer.
The Suns could have had the leading scorer in Orlando, but opted to ship T.J. Warren to the Pacers last offseason for cash and draft picks in a three-team deal. During a recent appearance on TNT, Warren called the trade “disrespectful,” saying, “No one wants to get traded for cash.” (hat tip to Adam Stratton of Valley of the Suns).

Draymond Green: Devin Booker Needs To Get Out Of Phoenix

August 8th, 2020 at 3:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

Warriors forward Draymond Green admits he may have crossed the line into tampering with comments he made Friday on “Inside the NBA” calling for Suns star Devin Booker to force his way out of Phoenix, writes Sam Quinn of CBS Sports. Booker has been one of the top performers in Orlando, leading the Suns to four straight wins and keeping them in the playoff race, but Green doesn’t believe he has a bright future if he remains with the franchise.

“It’s great to see Book playing well and Phoenix playing well, but get my man out of Phoenix,” Green said. “It’s not good for him, it’s not good for his career. Sorry Chuck (Charles Barkley), but they’ve gotta get Book out of Phoenix. I need my man to go somewhere that he can play great basketball all of the time and win, because he’s that kind of player.”

Asked by co-host Ernie Johnson if his comments constituted tampering, Green laughed and replied, “Maybe.”

Green has been openly critical of the Suns before, Quinn notes. In the preseason, he blasted them for giving up too early on lottery pick Marquese Chriss, who turned in a career-best season for the Warriors.

“Let’s be frank about it,” Green said. “When (Chriss) was there, the organization was terrible. Everything was going wrong. But he get blamed, like he’s the problem. When he left, ain’t nothing go right. That’s my take on it.”

Green has a reputation for reaching out to stars from other teams, most notably Kevin Durant after Golden State dropped the seventh game of the NBA Finals in 2016. Durant agreed to join the Warriors and captured two championships with them.

It would be difficult for Golden State or any other team to pry Booker out of Phoenix. He’s the centerpiece of the rebuilding effort in Phoenix and still has four seasons remaining on the maximum extension he signed in the summer of 2018.

While Green’s statement will attract scrutiny from the NBA office, the league has tended to overlook player comments and assess tampering fines only to team executives, observes Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports. He cites the example of LeBron James saying last year that he would like to have Anthony Davis as a teammate. The league responded by sending an anti-tampering memo to all 30 teams, but didn’t impose a fine on James.

Payne's Contract Very Friendly For Suns

August 7th, 2020 at 7:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns found a creative way to reduce their commitment to guard Cameron Payne, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. His $1.98MM salary for next season has a team option but only $25K is guaranteed if the Suns exercise it. Thus, Payne is essentially on a non-guaranteed contract next year even if the option is picked up, Marks adds. The Suns signed Payne to a two-year contract in late June.

Warren Isn't Holding Grudges

August 6th, 2020 at 6:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

T.J. Warren‘s explosive scoring has been one of the biggest stories of the restart. The Suns traded him to the Pacers last offseason in a salary dump but Warren claims to harbor no grudges against his former team, as IndianaSportsCoverage.com relays. “I don’t have no ill blood between anybody,” he said. “I’m just fortunate enough to be doing what I’m doing, playing basketball at the highest level. With me, it’s all love.” Warren has two years and $24.5MM remaining on his contract, which is increasingly looking like a bargain.