Suns' dismal season takes another turn for the worse with rival injury update

If you're reading this, then you already know how awful a season this has been for the Phoenix Suns. So bad in fact, that they are going to end the campaign with a losing record, a fact made official by another dispiriting loss at the hands of the defending champion Boston Celtics recently.

That hasn't happened since before the NBA's bubble, which acted as a coming out party for both the Suns after years of rebuilding, but also budding star Devin Booker. These days Booker is 28-years-old, and the peak with his as the centerpiece may have come and gone with that appearance in the 2021 NBA Finals. Still, there is a play-in spot to try and battle for.

The return of Jalen Brunson is going to make that goal even harder.

That's because New York Knicks' star point guard is due back on the court Sunday versus the Suns, having missed the last 15 games with an ankle sprain. Not what the Suns want to hear given they are missing Kevin Durant themselves, with Bradley Beal back in the starting lineup and putting up a single point versus the Celtics not exactly viewed as a positive either.

Then again - the Knicks did go 9-6 without Brunson on the court - so it's not like Phoenix would have been going up against a much inferior opponent anyway. But this is exactly the kind of news that has come to define their season - when little breaks have not gone their way - and their standing in the Western Conference certainly reflects that.

Prior to dropping the last five games, the Suns had won four in a row as they looked to make a late play-in push. That included notable wins over both the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers - although in one of the only few pieces of luck they've had all season - they caught the Cavaliers during their worst slump of the campaign.

Durant was also on the court for both of those games, and he's the exact kind of scorer who could have given the Knicks huge problems. Had they put Mikal Bridges on him - a sentence that still hurts to type all these years later - then that would have allowed Booker to get him. OG Anunoby also would have spent time guarding the 36-year-old, with Karl-Anthony Towns likely to have also given it a go.

Instead it will be the Suns who have to try and contain the combination of Brunson and Towns, and they'll attempt to achieve this despite having the fourth worst defensive rating in the entire league (117.6). Numbers that would almost make you miss Jusuf Nurkic. As for the Knicks, they score on average as many points (117.5) as the Suns give up each night. A terrible omen.

About the only hope the Suns have of keeping their slim play-in chances alive - and at this point you have to wonder why they'd even want to make the playoffs given their showings this season - is the fact Knicks' head coach Tom Thibodeau has no problem running his stars into the ground. Then again - they also have better depth than the Suns anyway - so that's not likely to matter. Season. Over.