Jusuf Nurkic

Suns Notes: Booker, O’Neale, Nurkic, Beal

Suns guard Devin Booker exited Saturday’s loss to Houston in the fourth quarter after spraining his right ankle, according to reports from Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic and ESPN.

Booker suffered the injury when he and teammate Royce O’Neale got their feet tangled up on defense while Booker was guarding Rockets guard Fred VanVleet with just over a minute left in the game (Twitter video link). The Suns’ All-Star guard, who was in obvious pain, immediately left the court and headed to the locker room (Twitter video link).

Speaking to reporters after the game, head coach Frank Vogel said that X-rays were negative on Booker’s ankle and that the team doesn’t yet know the severity of the sprain (Twitter video link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports). The Suns are back in action on Sunday night vs. Oklahoma City, and while it would be a bit of a surprise if Booker is ready to go for that game, Vogel didn’t entirely rule out that possibility.

“We’ll see how he responds overnight,” he said.

Here are a few more injury-related notes out of Phoenix:

  • O’Neale also sustained an ankle injury on the play where he and Booker got tangled up, but his sprain appears to be a mild one. The forward said after the game that he was OK, per Rankin, and Vogel said O’Neale’s injury is “not as much of a concern,” adding that he didn’t get X-rays like Booker did.
  • Suns center Jusuf Nurkic left Saturday’s game in the second quarter and didn’t return after taking an inadvertent shot to the head from teammate Josh Okogie (Twitter link). According to Vogel, Nurkic was tested for a possible concussion, but has been diagnosed with “just a neck sprain.”
  • On the plus side for the Suns, Bradley Beal was back in action on Saturday for the first time since February 13 after missing five games due to a left hamstring issue. However, he was ejected from the game in the third quarter after he picked up a pair of technical fouls in quick succession following a brief altercation with Rockets guard Jalen Green (Twitter video link).

Suns Notes: Durant, Bol, Beal, Nurkic

In an interview with Malika Andrews of ESPN (video link), Kevin Durant talked about the possibility of finishing his career with the Suns, but he didn’t offer any guarantee that it will happen. Durant asked to be traded to Phoenix last February, and he told Andrews that he enjoys being in the city when she asked if that will be his final NBA stop.

“I’ve been on so many teams and I’ve said this before,” Durant responded. “Right now, in this moment today, without thinking about it in the next minute, yeah. But that’s just saying right now. I can’t really predict what may happen, but I love playing in Phoenix. I love the fan base, the city. I’ve grown to understand what our mission is being in the Valley and how deep these people care about their team. I started to understand the history of the Suns, and I’m glad to be a part of it. I want to go up in that Ring of Honor someday, so however long that takes.”

Durant is under contract for two more seasons and won’t reach free agency until the summer of 2026, when he’ll be 37. He’s still playing at an All-Star level, and he talked to Andrews about continuing his career past the age of 40. He also reflected on how he has learned to look at the game differently since he got older.

“Winning, I don’t even have to think about that no more because when I step on the floor that’s just in me already,” Durant said. “I tend to think about the other detailed parts of the game that’s going to help me get to the win. How to be a great teammate, how to inject myself into the game at different moments. I started to think about the small parts of the game, and that’s just made it more fun for me.”

There’s more on the Suns:

  • Bol Bol was outstanding in Friday’s loss at Houston, coming off the bench to deliver 25 points and 14 rebounds in 26 minutes. It was a rare outburst from Bol, and his teammates were thrilled to see him take advantage of the opportunity (video link from Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). “Super proud of him, got in there ready to play,” Devin Booker said. “Wasn’t sure if his name was going to be called and still performed at a high level.”
  • A left hamstring injury will sideline Bradley Beal for a fourth straight game on Sunday, Rankin writes in a full story. Beal was listed as doubtful Friday night, but he was able to complete a pre-game workout that included running, shooting and resistance work. Jusuf Nurkic, who missed the game in Houston with a sprained right ankle, is expected to return.
  • Friday’s loss showed how much the Suns miss Beal when he’s not available, Rankin adds in a separate piece. Durant and Booker both shot below 50% on the night, and there was no one else to provide a consistent shooting threat or create opportunities for Grayson Allen and Eric Gordon.

Suns Notes: Ishbia, Beal, Nurkic, Durant, Booker

Suns owner Mat Ishbia said at the start of October that he felt Phoenix had the best team in the NBA. While injuries slowed down the Suns early in the season, they’ve won 13 of their last 17 games to move up to the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference at 32-22. Ishbia tells Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic that he feels just as good about the roster now as he did in October, especially after the trade-deadline additions of Royce O’Neale and David Roddy.

“We have our three star players and we also have a lot of other players who could be considered stars as well. We have a great all-around team. I love our team. I feel excited about what’s going on,” Ishbia said. “… We’re jelling. We’re playing our best basketball right now. Just because we had the best to start the season or felt like we had the best roster, doesn’t mean you can’t improve it. So we’re always going to try to improve things and that’s what we did I think with the addition of Royce and David.”

As Bobby Marks of ESPN observed after the trade deadline, 10 teams projected to be taxpayers a month ago and nine of those clubs either reduced their salaries or stood pat through the deadline. The Suns, who increased their projected tax bill by more than $13MM, were the only one of those 10 teams to add money.

“When we come to Mat with ideas and suggestions on saying, ‘Hey, let’s go trade for Royce O’Neale and David Roddy, but it’s going to add a significant amount of money to our tax bill and to this team,’ he says, ‘Hey, if it’s going to make us better, and the answer is yes, then let’s go do it,'” Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein told Rankin. “Many people don’t do that, especially at the trade deadline. You saw several teams shed money. We’re all in to win a championship and when you have an owner willing to do that and use any resource possible, it makes your job easier. You can go after the best players no matter where their salaries are at.”

Here’s more on the Suns:

  • After Bradley Beal strained his left hamstring in Tuesday’s win over Sacramento, the Suns have ruled him out for their final game before the All-Star break on Wednesday vs. Detroit. There’s optimism it won’t be a long-term issue though, Rankin writes for The Arizona Republic. “They don’t think it’s too serious,” head coach Frank Vogel said. “Hopefully with the (All-Star) break right after, he doesn’t miss too much more time. We’ll see where he’s at.”
  • In the latest episode of his podcast, Warriors forward Draymond Green ripped Suns center Jusuf Nurkic for his comments to reporters following Phoenix’s loss to Golden State on Saturday. “The little guy went into the media complaining like I did something to him as if he didn’t do the ‘too small’ celebration and then he starts to question my character,” Green said (hat tip to Rankin). “What a coward. You go questioning character about a basketball game you just lost that you got destroyed in. The only thing you should talk about his how you got punished.” Nurkic tweeted a reply accompanied by a crying-laughing emoji: “All good bad boy just don’t stay to long on podcast, gonna be late for therapy session.”
  • Sources who spoke to Rankin disputed ESPN’s report stating that Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey inquired on Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Beal prior to last Thursday’s trade deadline. Whether or not it happened ultimately doesn’t matter that much, since all three players were considered unavailable and remained in Phoenix.
  • In case you missed it, the Suns officially announced today that they’ll have a G League affiliate of their own beginning in 2024/25. Phoenix is the final NBA team to secure an NBAGL affiliate.

Draymond Green, Jusuf Nurkic Exchange Barbs During, After Warriors Win

A forearm strike to the head of Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in December earned Draymond Green a suspension that ultimately cost him 16 games, but it was the Warriors forward/center who got the last laugh in a 113-112 win over Phoenix on Saturday.

As Kendra Andrews of ESPN writes, Nurkic and Green exchanged words a few minutes into the fourth quarter after a foul was called on Green. Several seconds later, Nurkic was whistled for an offensive foul against Green, prompting the former Defensive Player of the Year to point to his own head twice on his way back up the court.

“I was calling him a dummy when I was pointing to my head,” Green said. “I wasn’t saying I was keeping my head. I was saying, you can’t start talking and then charge into me. That’s not smart.”

The two big men got into it again in the third quarter when Nurkic scored over Green and taunted him with a “too small” gesture. Green returned the favor a couple minutes later by backing down Nurkic for a basket and making the same gesture.

“You can’t be a nothing defender if you’re going to do that,” Green said. “You probably outweigh me by 70 pounds and you get put in the rim? Got to be more careful.”

Following December’s incident, Nurkic wished Green well as the Warriors star underwent counseling and learned to manage his behavior following a series of violent on-court incidents. However, his tone had changed following Saturday’s game, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic details.

“It’s sad,” Nurkic said. “He didn’t learn anything, man. Just a matter of time. He’s going to knock somebody else again. Take everything back what I said. He don’t deserve a chance.

“… Just his antics,” Nurkic continued when asked why he felt Green hadn’t changed. “Try to hit people. The stuff he shouldn’t do, but I don’t care. At the end of the day, he tried to play that way. No one is worried about him. They got the win tonight. We’ll see what happens in a few games.”

As Nurkic’s comments reached the Warriors’ locker room, some key members of the team scoffed at them, suggesting that Green’s ability to play a physical, fiery game without crossing the line was a sign that he had taken the lessons learned during his suspension to heart. Green was assessed with a technical foul on Saturday for the first time since returning from his 16-game absence, but helped lead the team to victory with 15 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds.

“That month off, that suspension was real,” head coach Steve Kerr said, per Andrews. “(Draymond) knew that his career was on the line or is on the line. He understands that he’s got to be the guy he’s been the last nine years, not the one he’s been the last year. I see him doing that.”

Stephen Curry, who hit the game-winning shot in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, called Nurkic’s comments “idiotic.”

“You can tell when someone is in your head when you go out of your way to celebrate,” Curry said of Nurkic’s “too small” gesture. “Then Draymond comes back at him. All of the talk, Draymond was in his head — plain and simple.”

Injury Notes: Zion, Suggs, Harris, Jones, Suns, J. Porter

After being considered a game-time decision leading into Friday’s contest vs. Oklahoma City, Pelicans forward Zion Williamson was later ruled out with a bone contusion in his left foot, the team announced (via Twitter).

Williamson has a history of foot injuries, having missed the entire 2021/22 season with a broken fifth metatarsal on his right foot. Obviously though, this new injury is on the opposite foot, and there’s no indication that it will be a long-term issue — head coach Willie Green said imaging on Williamson’s foot “came back clean,” tweets Christian Clark of NOLA.com.

The former No. 1 overall pick is averaging 21.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 4.8 APG in 36 games this season. Friday was his ninth missed game in ’23/24.

Here are some more injury notes from around the NBA:

  • Starting Magic guard Jalen Suggs sustained a bruised left knee on Friday and was ruled out for the remainder of the matchup with Memphis, per the team (Twitter link). As a third-year former first-round pick, Suggs will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.
  • As Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel tweets, Suggs isn’t the only Magic backcourt member injured at the moment. Veteran guard Gary Harris still isn’t doing contact work yet as he continues to recover from a right calf strain, per head coach Jamahl Mosley. Friday was Harris’ 11th consecutive missed game.
  • Mavericks forward Derrick Jones Jr. was in “tremendous pain” after falling on his left wrist during Friday’s win over Atlanta, according to Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). Jones went straight to the locker room and was later ruled out with a left wrist sprain, per the Mavs (Twitter link).
  • Suns center Jusuf Nurkic exited Friday’s loss to Indiana due to left thumb injury and did not return, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. After the game, Nurkic said he jammed his thumb a few times, but X-rays were negative (Twitter link via Rankin). Guard Bradley Beal also exited Friday’s game after being inadvertently hit in the nose by Myles Turner, but he was able to return to the contest, Rankin adds. Head coach Frank Vogel said Beal may have suffered a broken nose, Rankin tweets. Beal said he didn’t feel any concussion symptoms but he couldn’t breathe out of his nose, with blood continuing to be an issue, per Rankin (Twitter link).
  • Raptors two-way big man Jontay Porter had to leave Friday’s game vs. the Clippers due to an eye injury he sustained earlier in the week vs. Memphis, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, who says Porter was cleared by an eye specialist on Friday and he has a follow-up appointment on Saturday (Twitter links).

Suns Notes: Slump, Beal, Nurkic, Okogie, Trade Ideas

Even without Bradley Beal available, the Suns should be performing better than they have as of late, according to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports, who identifies myriad problems that were on display in Tuesday’s ugly loss in Portland. The team’s role players haven’t shot three-pointers particularly well, the fourth-quarter offense has relied too much on iso-ball, and the perimeter defense hasn’t been stout enough, Bourguet writes.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, star guard Devin Booker said his teammates can’t be “scared to hold each other accountable” and that it’s important to “keep learning each other, keep talking,” per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.

“We all feel it,” Booker said of the Suns’ recent underwhelming play. “Not just one of us. It’s everybody in here. We all have a job and this is the highest form of basketball in the world. It’s not an easy job and we understand that. We have the talent. We have the basketball minds in here to play better than we were.”

While the Suns are disappointed with their performances in the past few games, there have been “no players-only meetings for us so far,” forward/center Chimezie Metu said with a smile on Friday (Twitter video link via Rankin). “Hopefully we don’t have to get to that point, but we’ll see,” he added.

Here’s more on the Suns:

  • Phoenix announced on Monday that Beal’s sprained right ankle will be reevaluated in two weeks, but the veteran guard tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link) that he hopes to return “much sooner” than that.
  • While starting center Jusuf Nurkic won’t be available for Friday’s game in Sacramento for personal reasons, he’s expected to rejoin the club for the Christmas Day game vs. Dallas, tweets Rankin.
  • Suns wing Josh Okogie, who has missed the past four games due to a hip flexor, said he’ll be a “game-time decision” on Friday (Twitter video link via Rankin). Okogie added that he’s able to run without issue now but needs to make sure he has regained his “explosiveness” before he gets back on the court.
  • Taking into account the limited collection of movable assets the Suns have at their disposal this season, Bourguet offers up 12 ideas for trades that might be viable and that would potentially upgrade the team’s depth.

Pacific Notes: Clippers, George, Vincent, Nurkic, Green, Durant

After trading for James Harden, the Clippers went through a rough patch while adjusting to incorporating another ball-dominant player. Star wing Paul George said that it’s a growing pain plenty of teams with several All-Stars have historically experienced.

They all went through some sort of adversity, regardless of the talent,” George said. “It’s going to take some time because you got to find how to be yourself when your usage rate isn’t going to be as high as it used to be [or] the possessions you were going to have.

Now, Los Angeles has flipped its fortunes. The team holds the NBA’s longest active win streak (five games entering Thursday) and has won 10 of its last 13. Janis Carr of The Orange County Register says the Clippers are finding the “new you” in themselves by re-imagining their games and playing freely.

I mean that’s it. Just all of us just combining into the defensive end and just wanting to get things going on that end first and then letting, whatever the offense, take care of itself since we got so many scorers,” said star forward Kawhi Leonard.

Harden made headlines earlier in the season, saying that he didn’t feel like the Sixers let him play like himself, a problem he isn’t having in coach Tyronn Lue‘s system.

[Lue] allows me to just be free, be who I am and, like I said previously, that’s not just scoring, but just me reading defenses, seeing the different game and putting Kawhi and PG in better positions or in the pick-and-roll with [Ivica Zubac] getting easy layups or [Daniel Theis] getting easy layups,” Harden said. “It is everything that I thought it would be. It’s taken a little time, but as far as me playing and the chemistry on the court … it’s getting where it needs to be.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

  • George sat out the second half of the Clippers‘ Tuesday win over the Kings with a sore left groin. According to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk, Lue said George could have come back in and played if needed. However, he was ruled out before L.A’s Thursday game against the Warriors with hip soreness (Twitter link via Los Angeles Times’ Andrew Greif). He’s considered day-to-day, according to Youngmisuk.
  • Lakers guard Gabe Vincent is ramping up during the team’s three-game road trip, with coach Darvin Ham saying “everything is going according to plan,” The Orange County Register’s Khobi Price writes. Vincent hasn’t played since Oct. 30 due to a left knee effusion. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Monday that Vincent was targeting a Dec. 18 return to play. He’s averaging 6.0 points and 3.0 assists this season.
  • Even after taking a hit to the face from Warriors forward Draymond Green that led to Green being suspended indefinitely, Suns center Jusuf Nurkic still holds the four-time All-Star in a high regard, according to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “I have a lot of respect for him, obviously, even before this,” Nurkic said Wednesday. “I still have it. I don’t know what people go through. It’s not our problem, but he’s an NBA champion for me, Hall of Famer still.
  • Suns star forward Kevin Durant also reacted to the altercation on Wednesday, expressing well wishes to Green. “I hope he gets the help he needs,” Durant said (Twitter link via Rankin). Durant and Green played on the Warriors from 2016-19, winning two championships together. “[The altercation] was insane to see,” Durant said. “Glad Nurk is alright. Never seen that on the basketball court in an NBA game.

Draymond Green Likely Facing Another Suspension Following Tuesday Ejection

Warriors forward Draymond Green was ejected from a game for the third time this season on Tuesday, earning a flagrant 2 foul for striking Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the head during the third quarter of Phoenix’s win (Twitter video link via TSN Sports).

The NBA is expected to review the incident before the Warriors’ game against the Clippers on Thursday and will likely suspend Green for a second time this fall, according to Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. The former Defensive Player of the Year was previously suspended five games for putting Rudy Gobert in a headlock, with the league citing Green’s “history of unsportsmanlike acts” when announcing that penalty.

“I am not one to apologize for things I mean to do, but I do apologize to Jusuf because I didn’t intend to hit him,” Green said after the game, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “I sell calls with my arms … so I was selling the call … and I swung and unfortunately I hit him.

“… You guys have known me long enough, if I intended to do something, I am not apologizing. But I did make contact with him, so I do apologize. … It’s a hard hit.”

Although the blow sent Nurkic to the floor, the big man was able to finish the game. After the victory, he told reporters that the play had “nothing to do with basketball,” while Suns head coach Frank Vogel referred to it as “reckless (and) dangerous,” according to Andrews.

“I’m sensitive to our guys getting hit on plays like that,” Vogel said. “I didn’t like it. The refs did what they had to do. The league will do what they have to do.”

Another suspension for Green could result in more playing time for young players like Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, and perhaps Trayce Jackson-Davis, as well as veterans Dario Saric and Kevon Looney.

Both Kuminga and Saric, as well as rookie Brandin Podziemski, were part of Golden State’s closing lineup on Tuesday, alongside Stephen Curry and Chris Paul, with Green unavailable and starters Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Looney on the bench.

Thompson, whose scoring and shooting numbers this season are well below his career norms, told reporters after the game that it was “strange” to be benched down the stretch, but he didn’t question head coach Steve Kerr‘s decision.

“I played like crap,” Thompson said, per Andrews. “If you’ve ever played basketball before, you know what you are capable of. You always want to be out there competing. That’s just facts … but I deserved to be benched. I’ve been playing like crap. Twenty games in, I haven’t found a rhythm.”

Pacific Notes: Nurkic, Ayton, Beal, Klay, Wiggins, Harden

While one game isn’t enough to determine winners and losers of a trade, the Suns‘ victory over the Trail Blazers on Tuesday served as a reminder of why Phoenix traded former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton for a handful of role players led by Jusuf Nurkic, writes Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports.

Nurkic, Grayson Allen, and Nassir Little all played key roles in the victory, with Nurkic in particular bouncing back from a slow start to have a big game. The veteran center finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks, and was a plus-17 in 29 minutes.

Ayton, who was a minus-33 in 31 minutes for the Blazers, is getting an opportunity to play more of a starring role in Portland, while Nurkic is happy to take a back seat to his superstar teammates in Phoenix, according to Bourguet, who suggests those roles suit the two big men based on what they hope to accomplish in the near future.

“It’s not like I’m a main player here, man, [like] I’m just gonna take the ball and do whatever I want,” Nurkic said. “I feel like people need to understand I’m here to sacrifice and do all the little stuff that they need for the game and winning basketball.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

  • Andscape’s Marc J. Spears shares the second diary installment from Suns guard Bradley Beal, who is currently on the shelf with a back injury and said he shares fans’ frustration that the team’s big three has yet to play together. “We want it to happen more than anybody,” Beal wrote. “So, we’re all working diligently…to make sure that happens. … Before you know it, we’re all going to be clicking. And when this thing is healthy and the train is rolling, we’re going to be steaming away.”
  • Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins haven’t looked quite like their usual selves so far this season, but Warriors head coach Steve Kerr referred to the two former All-Stars as “championship players” and indicated that he’s willing to be “really patient” with them, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. After Wiggins scored a season-high 31 points on Saturday and Thompson put up a season-high 20 on Monday, Kerr suggested that patience is beginning to pay off. “I think you will see a different Wiggs from here on, and I think the same thing’s going to happen with Klay,” he said.
  • What has been the key for helping James Harden get comfortable with the Clippers? “Constant communication,” according to Harden and head coach Tyronn Lue, as Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times writes. Lue said his experience with Harden has been one he went through with the Clippers’ other stars too. “(They) all want to have a relationship and constant communication with the head coach and just try to figure out what they see, what the coach sees and how we can put it all together,” Lue said.

Suns Notes: Beal, Nurkic, Bates-Diop, Wall

Suns guard Bradley Beal missed his sixth straight game on Saturday, but there was an encouraging sign that his debut with the team may not be far off, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Beal, who has been sidelined with lower back spasms, went through a 20-minute workout of dribbling, moving and shooting and was able to end it by repeatedly sprinting from one sideline to the other.

Beal isn’t expected to play in Sunday’s game at Detroit, but the team’s medical staff will see how his back responds to today’s exertion. With two off days to follow, it’s possible that Beal’s first game in a Phoenix uniform could take place Wednesday in Chicago.

“I’m just excited for him. I know how much these dudes love to play,” Kevin Durant said, referring to Beal and Devin Booker, who sat out today’s game with ankle soreness. “They hate just being on the sidelines. We don’t want them to rush. We don’t want them to feel like it’s pressure to come back because we lose a couple of games. We want them to be 100% healthy for the rest of the season. So it’s important now to continue to ramp yourself up however you need to.”

There’s more on the Suns:

  • Jusuf Nurkic, who was acquired in a trade just before the start of training camp, continues to have trouble finishing at the rim, Rankin observes in a separate story. He shot 4-of-14 in today’s loss at Philadelphia and is connecting at just 41.7% from the field this season. Nurkic has started shooting more from the outside, with 14 three-point attempts in the last three games after just six in the first three.
  • Keita Bates-Diop made his first start of the season as coach Frank Vogel tinkers with his starting lineup, Rankin adds. Bates-Diop, who replaced Josh Okogie in the starting five, delivered eight points, three rebounds and two assists in 24 minutes. Vogel won’t be able to establish a regular rotation until Booker and Beal are playing full time, and it’s possible the fifth slot will keep changing throughout the season.
  • In an interview with Shams Charania on “Run It Back” (video link), John Wall said he would welcome the chance to reunite with Beal, his former backcourt partner in Washington. “Me and Brad are still brothers, we still talk a lot,” Wall said. “… If I could join their team, for sure, I would love that.” Wall, 33, has been out of the league since being traded to Houston and subsequently waived in February.