Suns upgrade Devin Booker to probable ahead of Monday’s Cavaliers matchup

The Phoenix Suns ruled All-Star guard Devin Booker probable to make his return from a right ankle sprain Monday at the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Booker has missed the last four games, sitting out Saturday’s 117-107 loss to the Boston Celtics after he was deemed questionable. Phoenix has gone 2-2 in games since Booker stepped on teammate Royce O’Neale’s ankle and went to the locker room last weekend against the Houston Rockets.

Phoenix also listed reserves Eric Gordon (right ankle sprain), Josh Okogie (lower abdominal strain) and Nassir Little (left knee inflammation) as out. Gordon played 29 minutes against the Celtics and didn’t score, although he is averaging 12 points per game this season on 38% shooting from beyond the arc.

Okogie has not played in Phoenix’s last four games, while Little has been out the last six contests.

Booker was back on the practice floor Friday and in his usual pregame warmup spot on Saturday. He was active on the bench, coaching up teammates during a timeout.

“I am excited to get him back, but we definitely don’t want to rush him back,” Kevin Durant said after scoring 45 points in Saturday’s loss. “It is an important part of the season, and we need him to be as healthy as possible. If we can buy another couple hours, another couple days for him to get him right, we definitely could do that but we miss him out on the floor.”

Booker has averaged 27.5 points and 6.8 assists per game this season

The Cavs have a game Sunday night against the Brooklyn Nets. Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell (left knee bone bruise), big man Evan Mobley (left ankle spain) and shooters Max Strus (right knee sprain) and Dean Wade (personal) were all ruled out.

READ MORE;

“Got to have urgency against the team with the best record in the NBA, but I thought we caught ourselves and played a spirited game throughout the reset of it. Giving them 15 threes, I thought we could have pushed up more; I thought we did a decent job pushing up on our shooters for the most part and knowing that is a big part of their offensive attack, but there were too many possessions where we didn’t and they bombed a three on us and you just can’t have those errors. The marginal error is slim against a team like this, but I was proud with how we fought.”

Kevin Durant – who scored a clean 45 points with ten rebounds and six assists to boot – said it was losing the three-point battle that ultimately cost Phoenix.

“We shot 50% from the field, I think we slowed down and tried to find out where our matchup was and attack that way. We got some looks, we had 14 turnovers, but I had six of them, so everybody else was pretty good,” said Durant.