SACRAMENTO — Kevin Durant (ankle) and Deandre Ayton (hip) will miss Friday’s game at Sacramento where the Phoenix Suns will conclude their three-game road trip.
Neither Durant nor Ayton made the trip to Sacramento (43-29).
“Every game is must-win mentality,” Suns All-Star Devin Booker said. “Just going out there trying to get after it, competing at the highest level.”
The Suns (38-34) then face Philadelphia in the second of a back-to-back Saturday. Suns coach Monty Williams said Ayton and Durant won’t play against the 76ers (49-23).
Ayton has missed Phoenix’s last two games after suffering a right hip contusion in the fourth quarter of last week’s win over Orlando.
“Everybody is playing with some type of soreness,” Williams said. “So, his soreness must be past soreness for him not to play. We just have to wait till he gets to a place where he can get out there.”
Bismack Biyombo has gotten the start for Ayton with Jock Landale serving as his backup.
“I told those guys today, they’ve been thrown in unbelievably tough situations,” Williams said. “This week alone, you’ve got (Lakers big Anthony Davis, Kings big Domantas Sabonis and 76ers big Joel Embiid). We’ve just had a number of injuries this year.”
Durant has been sidelined for the last seven games with a left ankle sprain he suffered during a pregame workout March 8 before what would’ve been his Suns home debut against Oklahoma City.
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) practices his shot during a time out against the Orlando Magic in the second half at Footprint Center in Phoenix on March 16, 2023.
The Suns went 3-0 with Durant on the floor, but they’ve gone 2-5 since. He’s scheduled for an re-evaluation next week.
“It’s either you pull it together or you don’t and you go home sad as hell,” Suns guard Landry Shamet said. “It’s one or the other. We’re at a point where we could be like, well, we can wait until Kevin gets back and DA and all that stuff, but why wait. We need to work on this stuff now and build on it and start making some good intangible strides towards where we want to go. That’s what we’re working on.”
The Suns are 2-1 versus the Kings heading into their final matchup in the regular season at Golden 1 Center. Sacramento is third in the West and five games ahead of Phoenix, which is fourth.
