Where do the Suns go with injuries to Devin Booker and Jalen Green?

The Phoenix Suns may have been in first place in the Western Conference, but Friday night dashed any long-term hopes. After Jaylen Green and Devin Booker were injured in the Suns loss to the atlanta hawks, where do they go from here?

They are nine games over .500 and sit in the sixth seed. If the season ended as of this writing, they would play the Denver Nuggets in the first round.

Admittedly, Phoenix’s success came as a big surprise to the national media. Many projections have the team winning 26 games (Bleacher Report’s top analysis), leading to they surpassed that mark.

That prompted comments from majority owner Matt Ishbia, who doesn’t feel as surprised as others. Not to mention, Suns head coach Jordan Ott is probably a candidate for coach of the year, and for good reason.

They have a Top-5 defensive rating and a Top-10 net rating. For a first-year coach, it’s impressive what he’s been able to do, despite a slew of injuries.

It was a tough pill to swallow only having Green for four games, but it leaves them in familiar territory.

The Suns will rely on depth without Devin Booker and Jalen Green

Colin Gillespie, Royce O’Neill and especially Dillon Brooks have all been pleasant surprises for the Suns. The latter is having a career year and is getting the go-ahead for nearly every offensive move in his arsenal.

Post-ups, mid-range jumpers, as well as clutch shooting, piqued everyone’s curiosity. He still carries the same intensity and desire to get under everyone’s skin.

Moving on to Gillespie, he is enjoying being the team’s starting quarterback. He may be small by NBA standards, but his strength, off-the-catch 3-point shooting, in addition to his playmaking, have been key.

Ott gives his guys the go-ahead to let him go behind the arc. Gillespie and O’Neill had long career years and it resulted in almost 40 attempts as a team per game.

Going back to Brooks, he could be the real catalyst to get the Suns to maintain the record they are doing. Regardless, the absence of Booker and Green will limit what they do offensively.

The Suns will miss the 1-2 punch of Devin Booker and Jalen Green

Four games isn’t enough of a sample size to see how Booker and Green work together. In limited minutes, they unlocked the Suns’ dynamic offense.

Booker’s composure and patience, mixed with Green’s athleticism and quick pace, complement each other so well. However, Booker’s absence will be worse for Phoenix than Green’s.

The latter only played in four games, so the rest of the team had to come together and take on expanded roles. As previously mentioned, Brooks, Gillespie and O’Neale picked up the slack.

But in those late situations, Ott trusts Booker to beat the Sans. His ability to slow down the game, get in his place and help lead Phoenix to the best team in the league shouldn’t go unnoticed.

It is unclear how long both players will be sidelined. Regardless, they play five games in seven days. There may not be enough time to sit around and joke about injuries to Booker and Green.

As it has been all season, it will be a next-man-up mentality, something that has worked in the Suns’ favor all season. The All-Star game is getting closer, so it will be intriguing to see how they deal with injuries.