{"id":112129,"date":"2024-12-14T11:39:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T16:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=112129"},"modified":"2024-12-14T11:39:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T16:39:22","slug":"latest-beal-injury-sums-up-suns-big-3-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/14\/latest-beal-injury-sums-up-suns-big-3-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest Beal Injury Sums Up Suns Big 3 Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns<\/a>\u00a0got back to winning ways against the Utah Jazz<\/a> after a three-game skid, in most part due to the return of Kevin Durant<\/a> from injury. Without the 36-year-old, the Suns have a 1-9 record<\/a>, which soars to 12-2<\/a> when he is in the lineup. It is clear that the two-time Finals MVP is the Suns’ most important player. If the Suns are to contend for an NBA Championship, a clean bill of health is a must. So when Bradley Beal<\/a> was ruled out<\/a> shortly before tip-off with right knee swelling, it was just another setback in a season full of injuries.<\/p>\n

Latest Beal Injury Sums Up Suns Big 3 Era <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Beal\u2019s Time in Phoenix Coming to an End?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ruled out just an hour before the game, many fans speculated whether a trade was on the horizon. Recently, Beal had been linked<\/a> with a move away as the obvious trade piece in a potential Jimmy Butler<\/a> swap. However, it is a scenario that does not appear to be an imminent reality. Head coach Mike Budenholzer<\/a> explained that Beal was injured, having developed swelling in his knee overnight.<\/p>\n

Beal sitting out as Durant made his comeback is a familiar story for the big three, which includes Devin Booker.<\/a> The trio has not been able to stay on the court together for the last two seasons. Once one returns, another gets hurt. It is not sustainable for a team that is in win-now mode more than any other. They experienced the same struggles last season, with the lack of consistency and chemistry ultimately hurting them in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

This may not be a one-game absence for Beal, as Budenholzer suggested<\/a> he could be held out of Sunday\u2019s game at the Portland Trailblazers<\/a> as well. Durant, Beal, and Booker have only played together in 10<\/a> of the Suns\u2019 24 games this season. It is why a Butler trade may hugely appeal to the Suns’ front office despite the high admiration those around the franchise have for Beal.<\/p>\n

Latest Injury Adds to Long List<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While Beal has endeared himself to fans with his great hustle plays and infectious attitude, his Suns’ tenure so far will be remembered for the long list of injuries. His career in the Valley began with a spell on the sidelines as he nursed a back issue. After returning and making his debut in a Suns jersey, he suffered a setback that kept him out for another three weeks. The Suns\u2019 big three would not debut together<\/a> until December of the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n

Shortly after he recovered from his back injury, he was forced to leave the game early against the New York Knicks.<\/a> A reckless closeout by Donte DiVincenzo<\/a> caused him to roll his ankle<\/a>. He would go on to miss another two weeks. He went on to pick up several injuries throughout the season. Some did not cause him to miss as much time but certainly impacted his level of play.<\/p>\n

Much of it was not his fault, for example, a broken nose after taking a charge from Indiana Pacers<\/a> center Myles Turner<\/a>. He even took another shot to the face just days later, wearing a mask that clearly made him uncomfortable. Beal eventually had surgery to repair it in the offseason.<\/p>\n

This current injury is his third different absence of the season. He missed a couple of games with elbow soreness, which he played through at times. This preceded a left calf strain, which saw him miss five games before this latest knee injury. The Suns can still win games with the duo of Durant and Booker, but they will be desperate for Beal to get healthy once more as they try to climb the Western Conference<\/a> standings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Suns\u00a0got back to winning ways against the Utah Jazz after a three-game skid, in most part due to the return of Kevin Durant from injury. Without the 36-year-old, the Suns have a 1-9 record, which soars to 12-2 when he is in the lineup. It is clear that the two-time Finals MVP is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5293,"featured_media":112156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,28],"tags":[311,352,69],"class_list":["post-112129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-suns","tag-bradley-beal","tag-devin-booker","tag-kevin-durant"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112129"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112157,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112129\/revisions\/112157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}