After a successful Suns debut, Jalen Green suffered an injury just 7 minutes into his second game suiting up for Phoenix. This would be concerning enough in isolation, but is even more worrying considering that he reaggravated the same hamstring that kept him off the court for the Suns’ first eight games.
His injury forces the Suns to look further down the depth chart, but it might not be enough offensive firepower to win games.
The Suns are lacking in offensive talent.
Without Green’s explosive athleticism and scoring talent, the Suns are once again singularly reliant on Devin Booker. Booker has proven capable of shouldering a heavy burden so far this season; he’s averaging 28 points and 7 assists per game. But the lack of surrounding talent is likely to cost the Suns against superior teams.
They’ve gotten some impressive and unexpected contributors from other creators already, such as Collin Gillespie. But less talented guys like Gillespie are not able to create something out of nothing like Green can. Instead, Gillespie and his fellow role players on the Suns are better at converting advantages already created - usually by Booker.
The Suns have managed to maintain a solid offense in spite of Green's absence this season with their incredible long-range shooting. Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale have particularly excelled in this area, both shooting 44% from deep on high volume (9 and 8 attempts per game, respectively). But the hot shooting start to the season is likely to cool off at some point and the Suns are currently lacking the consistent creation to keep their offense afloat when that happens.
It's also concerning that the Suns only rank 16th in the NBA in offensive rating despite their exceptional shooting. Booker is already doing his best, but it's not able to elevate the Suns beyond the mid tier. If he misses any time or the shooting falls off, the Suns offense is headed towards the bottom of the league.
Green's injury gets even more tragic when you look at his performance in his first Suns game. Facing off against the Clippers, he was able to score 29 points in just 23 points. He shot a ton of threes, but also got to the basket at will and even showed some midrange scoring versatility. Many of his shots came off the dribble and were self-created, unlike the typical Suns offense this season.
Those looks aren't always the best for free-flowing offense in the regular season but are important when points are hard to come by. When defenses truly key in, whether it be later in the regular season or the playoffs, it pays to have players that can make something out of nothing - and the Suns currently lack those outside of Devin Booker.