Suns Announce Devin Booker News on Friday

On Tuesday, the Suns announced that Booker would be sidelined for at least one week after being diagnosed with a right groin strain. This meant that he would be forced to sit out at least two games — Friday against the Rockets and Monday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

After those two contests, Phoenix get to face the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup on Wednesday. The Suns qualified for the knockout stage of the in-season tournament after finishing second in West Group A with a 3-1 record. Their reward is a matchup with the Thunder, who went 4-0 to win Group A in the West.

Ott spoke to reporters ahead of Friday’s game in Houston, and he had some promising news about their superstar guard.

“We'll continue to assess him day-by-day, but he's been through this before,” Ott said of Booker. “So he knows exactly where he's at and his body and he's made good progress in a short amount of time."

When asked about Booker’s potential return for the big game against OKC, the Suns coach responded optimistically.

"Absolutely. If his body is feeling good and he's in a good place, he'll absolutely be available," Ott said.

It appears that the Suns are planning for their NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup with Booker in the picture. There is still no guarantee that the 6-foot-5 guard will be able to return for that single-elimination game, but Ott’s comments here seem to indicate that he will be ready to go.

Booker, who is now in his 11th season with the Suns, has averaged 25.0 points on 45.7% shooting, 4.3 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.8 triples in 34.7 minutes per contest.