3 things Suns must evaluate over next week after latest Bradley Beal injury
The latest Bradley Beal injury is here, and it comes at arguably the most critical juncture of the Phoenix Suns‘ season.
According to coach Mike Budenholzer, Beal will be sidelined for at least a week with a left hamstring strain, which sidelined him for the second half of Phoenix’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
“Brad will be out a week; we’ll re-evaluate him in one week,” Budenholzer said before Monday’s 129-89 win over the Toronto Raptors. “He had an MRI today, and we’ll be hopeful that this next week goes well and re-evaluate him then.”
Despite Monday’s win, Phoenix is still five games below.500 and one game out of the final Western Conference play-in spot. Beal has already missed 21 games this year, coming off a similarly injury-ravaged campaign last year, where he missed 29 games. With a one-week timetable for reevaluation, it’s likely he’ll miss Phoenix’s next three games, and he’s also missed the second half of two different games in March due to injuries flaring up.
The most frustrating part—aside from his $50.2 million salary—is that it’s always some new Bradley Beal injury. From his back to his knee to his calves to a toe sprain to his hamstrings to a broken nose, Beal is either thoroughly snakebitten, incapable of playing through minor injuries without exacerbating them, or both.
Looking solely at his stats, one might be tempted to think Beal has done his part when healthy. The third option behind Kevin Durant and Devin Booker was never going to be a high-volume scorer, and Beal’s 17.3 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game on 50.5 percent shooting from the floor and 39.5 shooting percent from 3 aren’t terrible.
But those numbers are down slightly from last year’s 18.2 points, 5.0 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game on 51.3 percent shooting overall and 43 percent from 3, and they certainly don’t tell the whole story. According to NBA.com, the Suns sport a team-worst -7.8 net rating with Beal on the court, which is somehow even worse than Jusuf Nurkic’s -6.5. Phoenix’s Net Rating leaps to +3.7 when Beal sits.
