Just as the Phoenix Suns thought their roster was finally healthy and ready to truly establish the ceiling of what this team can be capable of, both Jalen Green and Devin Booker were injured again in a flash.
The Suns dropped a gutty road affair against the Atlanta Hawks Friday, Jan. 23, 110-103. Green played just four minutes before that same troublesome hamstring injury cropped up again on a nifty drive from the former Houston Rocket.
This is the moment when Jalen Green got injured 👀
— CourtSideHeat (@CourtSideHeat) January 24, 2026
It’s unclear what the injury is or if he’ll return, but he’s still in the locker room pic.twitter.com/PaC38MLYlG
It’s unclear how long he’ll be in street clothes for yet more of what’s surely been an immensely frustrating season for Green, who played in all 82 regular season games in consecutive seasons in Houston. He's played roughly 51 minutes all season with Phoenix.
Booker, meanwhile, had a 28-minute masterclass before rolling his right ankle on an unlucky, fluky play running into the back of a Hawks player.
Up to that point, Booker scored 31 points on 12-of-21 shooting including a sterling 5-of-9 from 3-point territory — an area of his game that has sputtered for most of the season. Booker was clicking offensively and finding a groove. So, naturally for tortured Suns fans, he’s now hurt again.
Book was clearly distraught while lying down on the court, and if he’s out for an extended period, it could be a brutal stretch for the Suns.
The losses of Green and Booker will again test the rest of the roster for the foreseeable future. They could also define the Suns’ trade deadline plans.
Both Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale are prime trade candidates, but with dual losses of Green and Booker (potentially for an extended period) the Suns front office may just decide to keep both guys as they need the depth to maintain in the playoff picture this season.
Dillon Brooks will again shoulder the load with those guys out, but Allen, O’Neale, Mark Williams and others all must now step up once again.
Speaking postgame on Arizona’s Family, Suns broadcaster Eddie Johnson said “this is the nature of the beast” with regard to the pair of stinging injuries. That "beast" is the grind of an 82-game NBA season. EJ spun the positive, though, by saying that because the Suns took care of business so often when healthy that they’ve now earned the right to lose some games.
They've built up a record nine games above .500 to this point, so a loss for the Suns wouldn't be as dire as it would for, say, the Los Angeles Clippers who dug themselves into an early hole, Johnson noted. He also said the Suns already “have the confidence” to play without Green and Book because they’ve done it this season already.
It’s a long season, and injuries are going to happen. But, man, for both Booker and Green to go down in the same game is a special kind of brutal for a team that still hasn’t been fully healthy for any meaningful stretch of games yet throughout 2025-26. If the adversity Jordan Ott continues to face doesn't aid his Coach of the Year case, nothing will.
Now, we're left to wait and see how long those guys are going to be sidelined.
In the meantime, start stashing your Jamaree Bouyea stock.