Suns vs. Trail Blazers NBA preseason: Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal will play Thursday
It’s always wise to wait as late as possible to bet any #NBA game, especially in the preseason, but we do know that superstars Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal will play tonight for the Phoenix Suns in their preseason game in Portland, which is a 5-point underdog.
That trio played in the preseason opener, a 130-126 overtime victory in Detroit on Sunday. KD had 12 points and a plus-14 rating in 13 minutes, Booker had 12 points and a plus-16 rating in 15 minutes ,and Beal 11 points and a plus-11 rating in 14. That Phoenix offense is expected to be unstoppable with those three on the floor, and that showed Sunday as the Suns shot 85% (17-of-20) from the field and 80% (4-of-5) from three-point range in the first quarter, outscoring the Pistons 46-29 in the first 12 minutes.
It is thought all three will play a bit more tonight as they adjust to each other and to new coach Frank Vogel. Without their Big 3 on Tuesday, the Suns were 4-point home underdogs to Denver and lost 115-107.
Trade acquisition Grayson Allen had 10 points in Tuesday’s game and currently leads the #WeAreValley in preseason scoring at 14.0 points a game. Guard Jordan Goodwin, who should be a rotation player this year with the Suns not very deep, is likely to make his Phoenix debut tonight. He missed the first two with a hamstring injury but practiced in full Wednesday. Center Drew Eubanks is questionable. Guard Ish Wainwright is out.
Of course, Suns center Jusuf Nurkic, forward Nassir Little and guard Keon Johnson all played for Portland last season, while Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton (the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft) and forward Toumani Camara (No. 52 overall pick in this year’s draft) were both originally drafted by the Suns. They were all part of the three-team swap recently also involving Milwaukee that sent Damian Lillard from the Blazers to the Bucks.
It's Portland’s first official #NBApreseason game; it played Tuesday against the New Zealand Breakers and won by 40. All of the projected starters saw action.
Ayton was terrific with eight points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in 15 minutes. Guard Scoot Henderson, the No. 3 overall pick this year and a top Rookie of the Year candidate, had seven points and six assists in 19 minutes. In his NBA debut, Camara came off the bench in the second half to score 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 14 minutes.
Tonight will be the #RipCity debut of center Robert Williams, who was part of the package back from Boston in the even more recent trade that saw Portland ship Jrue Holiday (part of original Lillard trade) to the Celtics. Williams didn’t play Tuesday out of precaution as he was still ramping up after showing up to training camp late. Malcolm Brogdon also came back from Boston but debuted Tuesday with two points off the bench. He will not be in Portland long.