Earlier this season, I wrote a column on how Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker would need to carry the franchise past a disastrous loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals last season, a difficult situation with former owner Robert Sarver’s decision to sell the team and more.
Now, the Suns’ star player isn’t even on the court (groin strain, out four weeks at least). It is not his fault, but he has not been available to carry his team out of a perilous stretch in which it has lost eight of nine games after it lost five of six in between a three-game winning streak.