If we call this the injury era for the Phoenix Suns, it’s now almost as long as the entire Chris Paul era.
For three seasons, the Suns have been devastated by injuries to their key players. The left ankle sprain that stole Tuesday night’s second half from Kevin Durant is just the latest example.
From Durant to Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic the past two seasons to Cam Johnson and Chris Paul the previous season, the Suns have been completely unable to find a rhythm. Despite getting Beal back on Tuesday after missing a weekend win over Golden State, Durant’s departure means more of that to come.
The Suns’ Big 3 of Durant, Beal and Booker has played fewer than 200 minutes together this season. By comparison, New York’s three best players have played nearly 400 minutes together. In Minnesota, it’s more than 400.
Not only does that make the Suns a worse team, it puts a limit on how good they can get this season. A win like Tuesday’s over San Antonio is a perfect example. Even with Durant in the game, the Suns’ offense was held in check. After he checked out, Booker was able to rally the team for a win. But to what end?
It’s nice to stay up in the standings, but the Suns cannot develop chemistry and develop a rotation without health.
On today’s episode, we talk through the highlights of the win (including Oso Ighodaro’s first start and Booker reaching 15,000 points) while balancing that with the inconsistency the Suns are still stuck in due to injury.
