Late in the second half of the Phoenix Suns' matchup against the Miami Heat, the veteran star guard Devin Booker left with an apparent leg injury.
When he went to the locker room, he had played 31 minutes. The star guard shot 5-17 from the field, 1-4 from three, and made all 11 of his free throws. He racked up 22 points before his exit.
Along with his scoring, Booker teased a triple-double by coming down with seven rebounds and dishing out eight assists.
Devin Booker Returned vs. Miami Heat
It didn’t take long for the Suns to evaluate Booker and clear him to return to the bench. Phoenix trailed by a few points, as the fourth quarter fired up.
Booker came back in time to help the Suns attempt to close out Tuesday’s action with a victory down in South Florida. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t seal the deal. The Heat took down the Suns with a 127-121 score.
The temporary exit caused a scare, but Phoenix head coach Jordan Ott addressed the in-game setback following the outing.
“Put him back in the 4th because we knew it was going to stiffen up,” Ott told reporters regarding Booker’s ankle.
“As soon as he was ready, we were going to put him in. You could tell after some of his shots that when he landed, he wasn’t feeling great.”
The Suns are going to see how Booker’s ankle responds on Wednesday morning before deciding on his status moving forward.
After making some major moves over the summer, cutting ties with some stars such as Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, Booker's Suns seem to be facing a potential rebuild phase. However, Phoenix has been competitive throughout the first half of the season. Booker is obviously a major part of that.
This season, Booker has appeared in 36 games for Phoenix. The star guard has averaged 33.9 minutes of action. He's been shooting 45 percent from the field, producing 25.3 points per game.
In addition, he is coming down with 3.9 rebounds, while adding 6.4 assists per game to his averages for the year.
Heading into Tuesday night's action, Booker and the Suns were placed sixth in the West. They were 8.5 games behind the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, tied with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Booker finished the game with 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists in 40 minutes of action.
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