Everything was going great at the Phoenix Suns, by far the best team of the NBA season and the main favorite to the ring that got away from them last season (they went 2-0 in the final against the Bucks and ended up losing 2-4)… until now. Until a few minutes before the start of All Star 2022, in Cleveland, TNT announced that the problem that Chris Paul drags on a finger of his right hand is serious, and that the base is going to have to be under a minimum time of 6 weeks that could be extended up to eight. He has a fracture that he must take care of, and it’s his turn to stop. After the jug of cold water for the Arizona franchise, Paul played a couple of minutes in the All Star (the twelfth of his career) and began an absence that could last until the playoffs.
The accounts are obvious: the 2021-22 regular season ends in seven weeks, on April 10. The playoffs, after the play inThey start on April 16. So we may not see Chris Paul until the title playoffs. A blow for a launched team (48-10 in the 58 games he has played before the All Star) but, yes, He has plenty of room to handle the absence of one of the best point guards in history: six and a half games ahead of the Warriors (42-17) and eight over the Grizzlies (41-19). The East, no one has less than 21 losses. So, in that sense, everything continues to point to the fact that, despite this setback, the Suns will have home court in all the playoffs, Finals included.
Paul he was averaging 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 10.7 assists, the latter data in which he is the best in the NBA (10.2 James Harden) and in which he aspired to close the season as leader for the fifth time in his career. The question for the Suns is that Paul arrives in good condition for the playoffs, since he is essential in his dream of winning the first ring in franchise history. In May he will turn 37 and last summer, a all in In all rules, the Suns gave him a new four-year, $120 million contract despite his age.
Until now, Paul had played all 58 games for the Suns, something that among the essentials there was also only the forward Mikal Bridges. Devin Booker, who will now be the very clear axis of the team, has missed seven (he has played 51) and center DeAndre Ayton had been the one with the worst luck so far: he has played 37 and missed 21.
#injury #slows #Chris #Paul