Suns’ Devin Booker injures ankle, leaves game against Hawks

Late in the third quarter, Suns star Devin Booker rolled his ankle on Hawks’ Onyeka Okongwu’s foot. Booker then limped back to the locker room as the Phoenix bench went silent, as the quiet panic doesn’t always come from the scoreboard. Sometimes it arrives when the face of a franchise limps toward the tunnel, with the entire season suddenly feeling smaller. Devin Booker’s ankle roll wasn’t just an injury scare; it was a reminder of how delicately Phoenix’s playoff hopes are balanced.

Devin Booker injured on Friday night in Atlanta:

The Suns had only just arrived at full strength with rotations stabilized and roles clarified. For the first time in months, the math worked. Then Booker went down in a game where the Suns had already lost Jalen Green to a hamstring injury, flipping symmetry into emotional dread. Phoenix’s roster construction demands health, especially from the one player who makes everyone else make sense. Booker’s gravity bends defenses, simplifies reads, and turns talent into coherence.

For Suns fans, the fear isn’t just this ankle, it’s the pattern. Each injury reopens the same question: can this group ever arrive whole when it matters most? Booker’s health isn’t just a medical concern; it’s the franchise’s operating system. When it glitches, everything else slows. The Suns can survive turbulence, but only if the foundation holds.