Suns’ Bradley Beal to start vs. Trail Blazers
Nov 2, 2024, 6:53 PM
Bradley Beal #3 of the Phoenix Suns dribbles in front of Kris Dunn #8 of the LA Clippers during a 116-113 Phoenix Suns overtime win in the season home opening game at Intuit Dome on October 23, 2024 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal to start Saturday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Footprint Center after missing Thursday’s game versus the Los Angeles Clippers.
Beal has had a questionable designation for the last three games, missing the first and third game of the stretch. He last played on Monday in a 109-105 win over the Los Angeles Lakers where Beal scored 15 points in 35 minutes played.
Suns’ Bradley Beal warms up ahead of tonight’s matchup with the Trail Blazers. pic.twitter.com/R35iDmaoW7
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) November 3, 2024
During a team practice on Saturday, Beal said he wanted to make sure his elbow felt good before returning to the court.
“You want to make sure that you don’t have any setbacks if you do decide to go out there,” Beal said. “Once they confirmed we were good and it’s just a little sprain and it’s a pain-tolerable thing, we kind of let it calm down. We had an extra day in between games so it was best to just take that extra day and feel better for our upcoming schedule.
Rookie Ryan Dunn started in Beal’s place both games he missed. He shot 7 of 15 from 3 in the two games en route to his first two double-digit scoring outputs with 13 and 16 points, respectively.
Beal credits Dunn for stepping up for the team in his absence and is happy to see him
“I’m just happy for him. Everybody had an opinion on him coming into the draft and it’s just cool being able to see him shutting off that noise and just be a pro,” Beal said.
Guard Josh Okogie will make his season debut for the Suns after missing the first five games of the season due to a hamstring strain. He is entering his third season with Phoenix. He played in 132 games over the last two years.
Portland will be without wings Shaedon Sharpe (labral tear) and Matisse Thybulle (knee injury maintenance), as well as big man Robert Williams III (hamstring strain).
