“Devin Booker and Kevin Durant Alone, They Are Not Beating the Lakers”: Stephen A. Smith Details His Doubts about the Phoenix Suns Amid Injury Concerns

Stephen A. Smith has recently been concerned with the way the Phoenix Suns have started their season, according to his appearances on First Take. While Kevin Durant has been familiarly firing on all cylinders, the likes of Bradley Beal and Devin Booker have both been absent. Booker has already missed three games while Beal is yet to make his debut for the Suns.

In his absence, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant failed to help their team beat the San Antonio Spurs and were caught out by Victor Wembanyama. The 19-year-old finished with 39 points and handed the Suns their third loss of the season in just five games.

Outlining Beal and Booker’s injury struggles, Smith talked about how they needed to watch all three of the stars playing together.

“I am very concerned because their stars are missing games. Devin Booker has already missed three games. We ain’t seen Bradley Beal out there yet, his back is not fully healed. We need to see these brothers together,” Smith said, before claiming that the only reason he had given the Suns a chance was because he wanted to see their three-headed offensive monster together.

“The reality is the only reason we thought about Phoenix really making some noise this season is because we expected this three-headed offensive monster to be on the court together,”

Smith said, claiming that the Suns had no chance of beating the Lakers with only Durant and Devin Booker.

Smith thought that while the Lakers seemed on another level, even the Clippers would prove to be a handful if the Suns faced them without the presence of Beal.

“Injuries, injuries, injuries. Do they have the fortitude to be on the court together? Devin Booker and Kevin Durant alone, they are not beating the Lakers team I watched the other night. They are not beating the Clippers team, if Paul George doesn’t fall out, who knows who is going to win that game?”, Smith concluded.

.@stephenasmith is CONCERNED that the Suns’ star players are missing games:

“The only reason why we thought about Phoenix really, really making some noise this season is because we expected this three-headed monster offensively to be on the court together.” pic.twitter.com/EesDXlFfkv

— First Take (@FirstTake) November 3, 2023

Needless to say, while the season is only 5 games in, Smith, in particular, will not consider the Suns title contenders unless Bradley Beal returns. For the time being, they have struggled to contain opponents and Victor Wembanyama proved utterly unstoppable for much of their loss.

Kevin Durant and the Suns need Bradley Beal to win games

Kevin Durant has been in imperious form in the Suns’ start to the season. However, Beal and Booker’s absence has left him with a bit too much to do. After Booker showed up in the last game, Beal is still not out of his injuries.

On paper, the Suns are easily the most threatening attacking team in the NBA this year. Both Booker and KD will be extra fired simply because the Suns failed to get out of the Conference the last time around, falling short to eventual championship winners Denver Nuggets.

This time around, an aging Chris Paul has made way for Bradley Beal, who averaged 23.2 points and 5.4 assists last season. While KD and the company seem to have a championship-caliber team on their hands, the fact that they have opened the season amidst constant injury troubles will be a cause for concern. For the time being, the Suns will be taking things game-by-game and will be hoping for a quick return of their star trio, in tandem.