Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Bryan Kalbrosky.
Devin Booker suffered an ankle injury and the timing is truly horrendous.
According to Shams Charania, the Phoenix Suns star guard will miss “at least” the next seven to ten days. During that time, the team will have an uphill battle.
They will face the Nuggets on the road on March 5, which is never easy. Next up is a potentially winnable game against the Raptors (March 7) before the challenge intensifies against the Celtics (March 9) at home. They then travel to play the Cavaliers (March 11) and then another game against the Celtics (March 14).
Those could easily result in four out of five losses as Denver, Cleveland and Boston are three of the most intimidating teams in the league. But even when Booker returns, it’s not going to get any less difficult.
Phoenix has the most difficult remaining strength of schedule in the league this season, per Tankathon and Basketball-Reference. Here is more analysis from John Schuhmann (via NBA.com):
“The Suns have the league’s toughest schedule in regard to cumulative opponent winning percentage and the most remaining games (17) against teams that enter March with winning records, currently 16-16 within that group. Thirteen of those 17 are against the seven teams with better records than they have, and they’re just 2-5 against those seven teams thus far.”
The Suns have played pretty well with Booker on the floor this season, via PBPStats, outscoring opponents by 5.7 points per 100 possession. But they are getting outscored by 2.3 points per 100 when he is off the court.
Booker’s impact is significant and his on-off swing currently ranks in the 89th percentile among all players, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Even in the minutes with his co-stars Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal but no Booker so far this season, Phoenix has gotten outscored by 6.7 points per 100 possessions.
All things considered, despite the fact they have the third-most expensive payroll in the league, matters look fairly bleak for the Suns right now.
There is a 77.2 percent chance that Phoenix makes the play-in tournament, according to dunksandthrees.com. Projections from Basketball-Reference are even higher, slating the likelihood at 81.2 percent.
That isn’t great considering how many future assets the front office has given up to make themselves a win-now contender, especially as Durant gets older at 35 years old.
With all that in mind, however, the star-driven Suns are still not a team that many would like to face in the opening rounds of the playoffs in the Western Conference.
Caitlin Clark makes history
We have had so much incredible Caitlin Clark content on our site over the last few days. After the Iowa star broke the Division I college basketball all-time scoring record, let’s review some of our coverage!
- Caitlin Clark had the classiest quote reminding everyone that she and her Iowa teammates are human.
- This wild Caitlin Clark stat proves just how unbelievable her 3-point shooting range is.
- Nike’s Caitlin Clark commercial right after her record-breaking points was the perfect tribute.
- Caitlin Clark became the NCAA all-time scoring leader in the most unlikely way possible
- Caitlin Clark was so giddy after a surprise meeting with her childhood idol Maya Moore
Shootaround
— Mics caught how Nikola Jokic hilariously teased LeBron James before he scored 40,000 points
— HoopsHype reviewed the funniest moments of Inside the NBA history
— Should the Sixers continue to start Kyle Lowry alongside Tyrese Maxey?
— Western Michigan completed the most unbelievable cross-court bounce pass to top Ball State at the buzzer
