The injury bug is really starting to affect the Suns’ season. Well, they started the year red-hot with nine wins in their first eleven games. But they are currently on a three-game losing streak, mainly due to injury concerns. Obviously, Kevin Durant has been out with a left calf strain. Likewise, Bradley Beal joined him recently with a similar issue. As the Suns face the Magic tonight, Beal and KD remain on the sidelines and Mike Budenholzer’s latest update on the former Wizards star does not raise much hope.

Addressing Beal’s health ahead of the game, Budenholzer said, “Yeah, Brad is putting in work to get back. So, I don’t think there is a re-evaluation per say, but there’s a lot of work that he put in today with our sports performance team, with our medical team. We feel like he’s making good progress, but there’s no update.” Yes, there is still no timeline on his return as he misses his fourth straight tonight.

Well, Bradley Beal suffered left calf tightness during last week’s Jazz encounter and was forced to leave the game before the final whistle. While he claimed it was only a ‘precautionary’, the issue might be more serious than expected. Meanwhile, Durant remains sidelined because of his respective injury.

Adding to the concerns, 7ft star Jusuf Nurkić is also not suiting up tonight as he is still dealing with a lingering ankle injury. Well, he was available for the last three games, all of which ended in losses for the Suns. And, likely, the team does not want to risk re-aggravating Nurkic’s injury by playing him on a back-to-back. Sure enough, the absence of these three stars puts pressure on the available players.

Mike Budenholzer praised Jusuf Nurkic’s replacement as the Suns need Devin Booker to take over

With Nurkic dealing with injury, Budenholzer has trusted Mason Plumlee and bumped him to the starting lineup. Even when Nurkic could not perform at a high level in one of the games, the head coach reduced his minutes in the second half and played Plumlee instead.

Moreover, Coach Bud liked what he saw from Plumlee so far and had high praise for him after the recent Kings game, “I thought Mason did a good job stepping in, being without Nurk. It kind of takes a team effort against Sabonis on the boards, but Mason’s been very good, and tonight he was the same. He was good for us against Sabonis.”

While Plumlee will be expected to take care of the paint, the responsibility to lead the team will fall on Devin Booker’s shoulders. Obviously, making up for KD and Bradley Beal’s absence is a tall task. However, Booker has averaged 24 points this season and looked dominant. Even in yesterday’s loss, he scored 44 points against the Wolves. And the Suns would hope he has another dominant performance tonight so that they can snap their losing streak.