The Phoenix Suns have rarely seen Bradley Beal on the court, and the star himself is frustrated.
Another day, another game without Bradley Beal in the lineup for the Phoenix Suns.
Beal has been dealing with lower back tightness since preseason play, which has kept him off the floor for what’s now been nine of Phoenix’s 12 games to begin the 2023-24 campaign.
That number will only increase as the Suns recently decided to shut down Beal for at least the next three weeks in order to allow enough time and healing to hopefully right the problem for good.
In a statement, the team said, “The Phoenix Suns today announced that guard Bradley Beal will be out and re-evaluated in three weeks as he continues to rehab a low back strain. This timeline was determined following further evaluation and consultation on his injury.”
This week, Suns head coach Frank Vogel said Beal was frustrated with the injury.
“He’s eager to get out there,” Vogel said (h/t Duane Rankin). “He’s frustrated, quite frankly. Not to really speak for him, but it is clear he really wants to have this thing behind him. He’s so excited to be here. So excited to bring his talent to this dynamic Big 3 that we have. It’s just not there yet, but he’s very eager to get out there.”
Phoenix’s Big 3 of Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker have yet to touch the court together in regular season play. That was believed to happen on Wednesday against the Utah Jazz before Beal quickly went from “probable” to “out” due to flare-ups in his back.
“We thought we were there and weren’t quite there yet,” Vogel said. “We all were, but he was very eager to get on the floor, especially to play his first game for the Suns, but we weren’t quite there yet. So we’re going to try to put this thing behind us.”
Phoenix is 6-6 through 12 games played.
