Two teams adjusting to life without a key player will face off in a rematch Wednesday night when the Phoenix Suns visit the Sacramento Kings on the second night of a back-to-back.
While the Kings had the night off, the Suns opened NBA Cup play with a 120-112 road win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, thanks to 31 points from Devin Booker and 24 from Bradley Beal.
Phoenix has another NBA Cup road game scheduled for Friday at Oklahoma City, but they will be highly motivated to face the Kings, who secured a 127-118 overtime victory in Arizona on Sunday.
DeMar DeRozan dominated the extra five minutes for the Kings, single-handedly outscoring the Suns 8-7. De’Aaron Fox contributed the other eight overtime points for Sacramento.
That was the Suns’ first game without Kevin Durant, who suffered a strained left calf in a win over Dallas on Friday. Durant has already been ruled out for all games this week and is averaging 27.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game this season.
It is possible Beal will also miss the rematch against the Kings after straining a calf late in the win over Utah.
Phoenix coach Mike Budenholzer mentioned that a decision on Beal’s status for the Sacramento game would be made after further examination on Wednesday, but Beal later described his exit from the Utah game as “just a little precautionary.”
Beal had a team-high 28 points and Booker added 23 in Sunday’s loss, where Booker missed a buzzer-beating 24-footer that could have prevented overtime.
The Kings felt the effects of their extra-time effort against Phoenix when they were crushed 116-96 by San Antonio on the second night of a back-to-back Monday. Sacramento had lost their previous four games by a total of 18 points.
Like the Suns, Sacramento is also missing a key player this week after supersub Malik Monk sprained his right ankle in the win against Phoenix. He did not play, and the Kings’ reserves were outscored 37-21 by San Antonio’s bench.
The initial diagnosis indicated Monk could return by the end of the month, which provided some hope for teammate Fox.
Monk sprained the same ankle in the Kings’ 73rd game last March and missed the rest of the regular season, during which Sacramento went 4-5 and slid into the 9-10 play-in game in the Western Conference. He also missed both of the Kings’ play-in games—a win over Golden State and a season-ending loss to New Orleans.
This season, Monk is averaging 12.6 points and 25 minutes per game off the bench.
In Sunday’s game, DeRozan scored 34 points, Fox added 21, and Domantas Sabonis contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds. Keegan Murray tipped in a DeRozan miss with four seconds left to tie the game and force overtime, finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
