Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker will be sidelined for at least one week, after which his ankle injury will be re-evaluated, The team announced Booker’s status on Sunday.
Booker suffered the injury during Friday night’s 110-103 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. He turned his right ankle in the closing seconds of the third quarter while stepping on the foot of Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu. Booker didn’t see Okongwu while watching Grayson Allen lose the ball out of bounds. With his head turned to the right, he didn’t see Okongwu and ran into him.
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Booker was running back down the court with his head turned toward Grayson Allen trying to save a loose ball from going out of bounds. As a result, Booker collided into Okongwu and hit the deck in pain.
“Seems to be in a pretty good place,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said, via the Arizona Republic, presumably referring to Booker not suffering a more serious injury.
“Anytime you get anyone down on the court like that, it’s not great and it was so unlucky,” he added. “He had been feeling so good at the end of that third quarter… We know he’s an incredible healer and a guy that’s going to do everything it takes to play the next one. That’s encouraging news.”
Prior to leaving the game, Booker had 31 points (shooting 5-of-9 on 3-pointers) with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. For the season, he’s averaging 25.4 points, 6.2 assists and 4 rebounds while shooting 31% on 3s. The Suns are sixth in the Western Conference with a 27-18 record under first-year coach Ott.
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Phoenix also lost Jalen Green to a hamstring injury in Friday’s game. The fifth-year guard was playing in his second game after missing 33 straight with a strained right hamstring. Green has only appeared in four games with the Suns since being acquired in a trade for Kevin Durant. He scored four points in four minutes before leaving the game.
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Green missed Sunday’s 111-102 loss to the Miami Heat after being listed as questionable on the NBA injury report leading up to game time.
