The regular season for the Phoenix Suns is all but over. Two games remain on the schedule, but in the grand scheme, they feel meaningless. The Suns have locked up the seventh seed and will host a Play-In Tournament game next Tuesday, with the opponent still to be determined.
There is no real reason to exert unnecessary energy against either the Lakers or the Thunder over these final two games, and the team should avoid putting itself in a position where injury could occur, especially to primary players.
Rest over the last few days, prepare for the Play-In, and get ready for the grind that comes with the second season.
When the injury report dropped Thursday evening and stated that Devin Booker would be out with ankle injury management, it did not come as a surprise. After a long, arduous season, any opportunity for rest stands out, and that opportunity presents itself in a game against the Lakers.
I understand the thinking. I do not doubt or criticize the methodology. Well, kind of. But as Randy Travis once said, on the other hand…
This is not an ideal situation for Phoenix as the regular season comes to a close and the team is playing far from its best basketball. The team is 5-5 in their last 10. There is an argument to be made that these final two games could be used to continue finding the chemistry and geometry of a team that has lacked both for the past two months. There is still time to see what certain lineups can do together.
Which lineups am I speaking of? Any that have Devin Booker, Jalen Green, and Dillon Brooks.
Unfortunately, injuries have cost the Phoenix Suns any real opportunity to see what their three highest-paid players can do together on the court. Devin Booker has missed 16 games and is set to miss his 17th tonight against the Lakers. Dillon Brooks has missed 35 games. Jalen Green has missed 48. Finding consistent combinations with all three available has been a challenge due to a lack of availability, and the truth is there simply is not much data on lineups featuring them together.
They have played 10 games alongside each other this season. 133 total minutes. That’s it. They are a +8 in that time. Collectively, the team shot 47.7% from the field in those minutes, 37.5% from deep, and had a 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio.
According to NBA.com stats, there have been only eight lineups that include all three:
When you dig into those lineups, the one with the most run features Booker, Brooks, and Green alongside Jordan Goodwin and Mark Williams. That group has logged 32 minutes, scored 84 points, and sits at a +14. It also shot a mundane 31.8% from beyond the arc and posted a 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio, so it has not exactly been a dominant or sustainable lineup.
The lineup with the next-best plus-minus swaps Goodwin for Gillespie. We saw it for four minutes at the end of the game against the Bulls, and it was a +7.
The Suns could have used these final two games to learn something, to get a better feel for how lineups around their three highest-paid players function. Instead, it feels like they are heading into the postseason without that clarity. I understand the decision. The NBA season is a grind, and when there is a chance to rest, teams take it.
Still, it would feel different if this team were playing better entering this point of the season. They barely got past the Chicago Bulls. The Dallas Mavericks, who did everything short of waving a white flag late, were not an easy out either. The team feels like it is sputtering.
There is an appreciation for what they have accomplished this season. That part is real. The in-the-moment product feels different. And the rest conversation matters. If you take care of business in the Play-In game, you earn a few extra days. If you enter that game stale, you can forget about rest. You are right back on the floor a couple of nights later.
So I see the strategy. I understand it. It does not fully land with me. I would rather see a team building momentum, using every opportunity to gel, especially one that has dealt with this many injuries and is still searching for its identity. But that is where we are. Limping into the postseason, hoping it clicks when it matters most.
