The Phoenix Suns are on the cusp of beginning their 2024-25 season proper, and have five preseason games to tune up before the real thing begins. A pair of those contests will come against the Los Angeles Lakers - as well as the Detroit Pistons - with a trip to L.A. first up on the agenda.
The team have already travelled down for the game - and as we have already examined - it will be a good opportunity for head coach Mike Budenholzer to try out some new things with this group. Guys like Damion Lee, who missed all of last season through injury, are also likely to get a chance to impress.
The Suns will be down one of their starters through injury though.
As revealed by coach Budenholzer to the assembled media after practice ahead of the trip, center Jusuf Nurkic hurt his finger during one of their sessions and is expected to be re-evaluated in a week. A blow to the group as they look to build chemistry early, although coach Bud refused to be drawn on quite how much the starting five are going to play anyway.
Injuries are never a good thing - and the timing of this is not great for the group - but it presents opportunities early on to a pair of bigs who could become key to the rotation. The first is backup big Mason Plumlee - who is likely going to start now - and who has a similar frame, plus better handles, which should allow the team to play in a similar way.
Plumlee might be 34-years-old now, but in the first run out of the campaign we are likely going to see just how much of an upgrade he is over Drew Eubanks, who held this position last season. The prospect of Eubanks playing a meaningful role for any amount of time at all was a terrifying one, and the Suns were lucky that Nurkic somehow managed to play the most games of any player (76).
This also opens the door for rookie Oso Ighodaro to get some early minutes - coach Budenholzer alluded to this when revealing Nurkic had gone down - and it is an opportunity he could seize. There is no better way to put yourself in contention for more run down the road then by battling with the Lakers' front line, which includes Anthony Davis.
Oso Ighodaro said Jusuf Nurkic has been helping him get acclimated, which means a lot to the rook: "He's always telling me to hop in with him after practice in drills, and him and Tyus, we're going through some ball screen angles and stuff. He's like, 'Rook, come hop in with me'" pic.twitter.com/MDgBsTHmF8
— PHNX Suns (@PHNX_Suns) October 5, 2024
The Suns rightly don't want to put too much pressure on Ighodaro - and fellow rookie Ryan Dunn - to come in and help right away. But if you go back to last season, that's exactly what Dereck Lively II did for the Dallas Mavericks. Replicating what a former Duke big man and 12th overall pick accomplished is extremely difficult - but if Ighodaro could do even 50 percent of what Lively did - the Suns will profit.
That's the positive way to view this development, although the team would surely rather have Nurkic getting some reps early with the starters. Point guard Tyus Jones has now been added to the mix there, and the prospect of him and Nurkic playing together is a good one for Suns fans. If ever there was a time and and injury for Nurkic though, this is surely it.