Just when the Phoenix Suns thought their roster was finally healthy and ready to truly reach the ceiling of what this team can be capable of, both Jalen Green and Devin Booker were injured again in a flash.
The Suns dropped a big road affair to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, January 23, 110-103. Green played just four minutes before that same troublesome hamstring injury reared its ugly head again after a nifty drive from the former Houston Rocket.
This is when Jalen Green got injured 👀
It’s unclear what the injury is or if he will return, but he is still in the locker room pic.twitter.com/PaC38MLYlG
— CourtSideHeat (@CourtSideHeat) January 24, 2026
It’s unclear how long he’ll be in street clothes for more of what has certainly been a hugely frustrating season for Green, who played in all 82 regular-season games in consecutive seasons in Houston. He played about 51 minutes all season with Phoenix.
Booker, meanwhile, had a 28-minute masterclass before rolling his right ankle on an unfortunate clumsy play that saw him run into the back of a Hawks player.
To that point, Booker scored 31 points on 12-for-21 shooting, including an excellent 5-for-9 from 3-point territory — an area of his game that has sputtered for most of the season. Booker was clicking offensively and finding a groove. So for the tortured Suns fans, now he’s hurt again.
Book was clearly distraught when he was on the field, and if he is out for an extended period of time, this could be a tough task for the Suns.
The losses of Green and Booker will test the rest of the roster again for the foreseeable future. They could also define the Suns’ trade deadline plans.
Both Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale are prime trade candidates, but with dual losses of Green and Booker (possibly for an extended period), the Suns front office could decide to keep both guys as they need the depth to stay in the playoffs this season.
Dillon Brooks will once again shoulder the load now that these guys are out, but Allen, O’Neale, Mark Williams and others all have to step up again now.
During a postgame on Arizona’s Family, Suns broadcaster Eddie Johnson said, “This is the nature of the beast” regarding the pair of stabbing injuries. That “beast” is the grind of an 82-game NBA season. However, EJ turned the positive, saying that because the Suns took care of business so often when healthy, they have now earned the right to lose some games.
They’ve built a nine-game record above .500 so far, so a loss to the Suns wouldn’t be as severe as to, say, the Los Angeles Clippers who dug themselves into an early hole, Johnson noted. He also said the Suns already “have the confidence” to play without Green and Book because they have already done so this season.
It’s a long season and injuries will happen. But man, having both Booker and Green go down in the same game is a special kind of cruelty for a team that still hasn’t been fully healthy for a meaningful chunk of games through 2025-2026. If the adversity Jordan Ott continues to face doesn’t help his Coach of the Year cause, nothing will.
Now we have to wait and see how long those guys will be sidelined.
In the meantime, start stocking up on your Jamaree Bouyea stash.
#Injuries #rear #heads #brutal #blow #Suns