Phoenix Suns’ injury woes continue with Landry Shamet now hurt

The Phoenix Suns have not been able to avoid a depleted roster since the NBA’s COVID-19 outbreak in December.

After escaping that month, albeit with their own absences along the way, the Suns have now been hampered by more injuries.

A sprained right ankle for guard Landry Shamet in Sunday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs had him, as of Monday night, among seven players initially listed as out for Tuesday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.

Shamet joins Deandre Ayton (right ankle sprain), Jae Crowder (left wrist contusion), Frank Kaminsky (right knee stress reaction), Abdel Nader (right knee injury management), Cam Payne (right wrist sprain) and Dario Saric (right ACL rehab) on that list.

After shootaround on Tuesday morning, however, Ayton and Crowder were upgraded to questionable.

Kaminsky, Nader and Saric have been on long-term timetables for at least most of the season while the Suns provided a date of Feb. 7 for when Payne’s wrist sprain will be re-evaluated.

Ayton and Crowder were seen as day-to-day, and on the injury report for Sunday, they were listed as questionable, along with JaVale McGee. McGee had been dealing with left knee soreness and went on to play while Ayton and Crowder did not.

Ayton could miss his eighth game on Tuesday while it’ll be five for Crowder if he does not play.

Without those starters, the Suns would only have nine available bodies against the Nets: Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Bismack Biyombo, JaVale McGee, Elfird Payton, Ish Wainright and Jalen Smith.

The absences combined with the offense’s reliance on Paul and Booker lately has seen the minutes start to climb up for those two. They are each averaging over 38 minutes per game in the last six contests. Bridges is up there too because of a sidelined Crowder and Nader.

Tuesday’s game is an 8 p.m. tip-off you can hear on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

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