Suns forward would be guaranteed more minutes if he could get healthy

We're sure you've already hate watched the Phoenix Suns' loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Emirates NBA Cup, and one thing that was sorely lacking on the night was more size.

It is why the Thunder were able to force Collin Gillespie to have his worst game of the season, as they hounded him with bigger players and the Suns had nobody else to come back at them with.

Isaiah Livers would get bigger role if healthy.

Which is why the Suns need to get Isaiah Livers back from the hip issue that has forced him to miss the last seven games (and counting) as soon as possible.

Few could have predicted the impact Livers would have in Phoenix having missed all of last season, but he is the kind of mobile forward head coach Jordan Ott clearly likes.

Defensively he's capable of disrupting shooters and is quick enough to hang with smaller players, while he also doesn't shy away from the physical contact inside either.

On the other end he's not asked to do a lot, with his numbers down right across the board. That selfless type of play alongside scorers such as Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale has been crucial to the Suns' success this season.

It has also made Nigel Hayes-Davis obsolete in The Valley, despite coming over from Europe to much fan are. Livers is younger and just better suited to what coach Ott is trying to achieve each night.

When he does return from injury, you can be sure he'll see an uptick in the 12.2 minutes he's gotten per game so far. Coach Ott recently apppeared to reveal his playoff rotation in a win, but Livers can easily force his way into that rotation.

He provides this group with something that nobody else on the roster can, and it is that mix of size and a willingness to take a back seat offensively.

This allows Dillon Brooks to be the man when Devin Booker and Jalen Green are unavailable, although the prospect of Livers playing alongside that trio is an even more intriguing one.

He forces opponents to either play somebody bigger to attempt to overpower him, which doesn't always work, or a smaller guy to go around him.

While that can have some success, it then means Brooks, Ryan Dunn or Mark Williams can pick on that smaller player through switches once they have the ball again.

His numbers aren't showing up in the box score every night, but in order for the Suns to be the best version of themselves, they need Livers back in the rotation.