Bradley Beal will miss a fifth straight game with a left hamstring strain as the Phoenix Suns conclude their five-game homestand Wednesday against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics at PHX Arena.
Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said Beal hasn’t done any 5-on-5 work, but is progressing.
“He’s ramping up his court work,” Budenholzer said Tuesday. “We feel like he’s making good progress. The next few days are big. We’ll just see how he progresses each day.”
The Celtics (53-19) have won their last six games, but will likely be without All-Star Jayson Tatum, who suffered a left ankle sprain in the second half of their 113-95 win Monday at Sacramento.
Tatum is listed as doubtful for Wednesday’s game against the Suns, who will play at Boston on April 4.
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The Suns (35-37) have won their last four games without Beal, who suffered the injury in the first half of Phoenix’s road loss March 16 to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Two-way player Collin Gillespie has started in his place. Gillespie is averaging 6.5 points, four assists, 3.5 rebounds and shooting 42.9% from 3 in his four starts.
Gillespie isn’t eligible for the postseason because he’s on a two-way contract. The Suns could change that by signing him to a standard contract, but they’d have to waive a player from their standard 15-man roster to make room for Gillespie on the standard roster.
Budenholzer said the Suns haven’t discussed the idea of waiving a player and signing Gillespie to a standard deal, but said “there’s obviously an awareness” about the situation.
“Happy with what he’s bringing,” Budenholzer said. “Really both ends of the court, he’s been positive. We just want him to keep playing well. The group, everybody is pushing for everybody, When we need to address something like that, I’m sure we will.”
The Suns are a 10th seed and have the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. The Dallas Mavericks (35-38) are 11th after losing Tuesday to the New York Knicks in the second of a road back-to-back.
Phoenix owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Dallas.
Anthony Davis is back from a groin injury he suffered in his Dallas debut Feb. 8 against Houston after the blockbuster deal before the 2025 trade deadline that sent him to the Mavs and Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. He played in Monday’s win over Brooklyn, but sat out Tuesday’s game versus the Knicks.
Phoenix and Sacramento have the same record after the Kings (35-37) lost Tuesday to the NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder, 121-105. OKC (60-12) has won its last seven games.
The Kings currently have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Suns as they’re 1-2 against them. Phoenix ends its regular season April 13 at Sacramento.
If Phoenix wins to tie the season series and has the same record as Sacramento, it will win the tiebreaker because of a better division record.
The Suns are 9-5 in the Pacific Division with two division games remaining against Golden State (41-31) and Sacramento.
The Kings are 4-10 with two division games left against the Los Angeles Clippers (40-31) and Suns.
The ninth seed hosts the 10th seed in the play-in with the winner playing at the 7-8 loser for the eighth seed. The Thunder are the top overall seed and No. 1 seed in the West.
OKC is 2-0 against Phoenix this season. The Thunder face the Suns in Phoenix on April 9.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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