PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns (13-12) face a crucial stretch of the season tonight – said stretch begins tonight against the Utah Jazz.

This matchup was only decided last week when the Suns were officially eliminated from NBA Cup competition despite a 3-1 result in the group stage.

Fortunately, the longer gap between Sunday’s last scheduled game against the Orlando Magic and tonight allowed more time to return some key players to the lineup – particularly the starting five.

Head coach Mike Budenholzer opted to start the game with the traditional five once the full roster was available.

Tyus Jones
Devin Booker
Royce O’Neale
Kevin Durant
Jusuf Nurkic

Jones has been a standout player of late – with 63 points and 13 three-pointers in four games so far this month. The franchise’s first-year floor general has fit well with the star-studded core and generally made the offensive flow much stronger.

Booker has struggled quite a bit lately, but this seems like an optimal “real” game for the four-time All-Star – let’s see if Book can go back to basics and do what he does best against favorable defensive competition .

Beal has been the subject of trade rumors in recent days that are currently overshadowing everything else surrounding the former All-Star guard. Unfortunately, he had to miss out shortly before the start of the game due to knee swelling – You can read more about this here.

O’Neale will start in his place.

Durant and Nurkic are expected to return to the lineup after approximately the same length of absence. Nurkic in particular will be of interest as many in the fan base believe an upgrade via the trade market is necessary to make the Suns a legitimate title contender going forward.

It will be interesting to see how the unit develops tonight after being away from each other for over two weeks.

Suns-Jazz will begin tonight shortly after 7:30 p.m. Arizona time.