Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Tyus Jones are all being held out of tonight’s road contest due to rest after all playing in each of the team’s first three preseason games. Suns guard Devin Booker (right ankle soreness), center Jusuf Nurkić (left middle finger), guard Grayson Allen (Achilles soreness) and guard/forward Josh Okogie (hamstring tightness) were already ruled out for the game.
With these players out, Phoenix (2-1 in preseason) will start Monté Morris, Ryan Dunn, Royce O’Neale, Bol Bol and Mason Plumlee.
Durant (18 points on 7-of-12 shooting), Beal (17 points on 7-of-15 shooting) and Jones (11 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals) all played 24 minutes in Friday’s 109-91 loss to the Detroit Pistons.
Booker was ruled out right before Friday’s contest with his injury.
“It’s the preseason, there’s no reason to push just generally him, his ankle,” Budenholzer said of Booker postgame. “I think he’s going to be fine.”
Nurkić suffered his finger injury a week ago and will now have missed all four of the team’s preseason games so far. He was scheduled to be re-evaluated today.
“He’s making good progress,” Budenholzer said of Nurkić at practice Saturday. “We feel good about it. He won’t play tomorrow, but we’re happy with how he’s progressing.”
This will be the third-straight game Allen will miss. He originally was out for personal reasons earlier this week, but Budenholzer said he now is dealing with Achilles soreness before Friday’s loss. Allen did warm up before the game.
Okogie headed to the locker room during the third quarter of Friday’s loss and did not return. Budenholzer said postgame that he was dealing with hamstring tightness. Okogie is the only one of these four players who doesn’t have a clear spot in the rotation after re-signing with Phoenix this offseason. He has averaged 6.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game through the Suns’ first three preseason games.
Leave a Reply