The three Phoenix Suns’ players who missed last night’s 112-108 victory over the Washington Wizards are out once again tomorrow night on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Bradley Beal (right ankle sprain), Josh Okogie (right hip injury) and Damion Lee (right meniscus surgery) will miss another game. Grayson Allen (right hamstring soreness) was added to the report as probable. Allen has played in the last two games for Phoenix after he missed three straight games with a right groin strain.
The Suns revealed today that Beal “will miss the next two weeks of play to rehab a right ankle sprain. He will be re-evaluated at the start of January.” He suffered his injury during the first quarter on Friday vs. the Knicks.
Beal walked into last night’s game on crutches and a slide on his ankle. He has only appeared in six of the Suns (14-12) 26 games this season, and the team is 2-4 with him in the lineup. The team’s Big 3 has only played a combined 24 minutes.
Suns’ coach Frank Vogel shared his thoughts on Beal’s injury before playing the Wizards yesterday.
“Well we all want him out there,” Vogel said. “But every team has ankle sprains on their roster. All three of our guys (Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant) have had ankle sprains. So, you know you are disappointed for him because you know how much he wants to be out there. But we don’t want to spend a lot of time frustrated with injuries. We focus on the guys that we have, and we go win games with those guys.”
This will be Okogie’s fourth game missed after he suffered the injury in the first half of Tuesday’s game vs. the Warriors and did not return. Sources say he could return this week. Phoenix only plays one more game until next Monday, squaring off against the Kings in Sacramento Friday night.
This was the Vogel’s update from Friday on Okogie’s status: “I don’t think it’s a long term thing. It’s a muscle irritant hip thing, so we don’t think it’s serious.”
Lee has been out since undergoing surgery on his knee this offseason.
As for the Blazers (6-19), Shaedon Sharpe (right adductor soreness) is listed as questionable. Robert Williams III (right knee ligament tear) is out for the year.
Tomorrow night’s game tips off at 8:00 p.m. MST. The Suns beat the Blazers 120-107 on Nov. 21 in the team’s first meeting of the year.