The Phoenix Suns headed down to Austin today to face off against the San Antonio Spurs as the second half of the season starts after the All-Star break. However, things quickly went sideways when the team fell into a deficit, and now it’s only getting worse as Devin Booker heads to the locker room. Here’s what happened.

Why Did Devin Booker Leave the Game? What Injury Did He Suffer?

Booker first exited the game with 5:24 left in the first quarter, checking out and heading straight to the locker room in a confusing maneuver. He eventually headed back to the scorer’s table, checking in for a few minutes before once again leaving the game and heading to the locker room late in the second quarter.

The team announced later that Booker was dealing with right hip soreness, and immediately ruled him out for the rest of the night. This is especially unfortunate news for the guard, who has missed significant stretches of the season due to a variety of injuries.

How Did Devin Booker Perform Before Leaving?

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Booker didn’t do his best tonight. In his nine minutes on the floor, Booker logged five points and one rebound on subpar efficiency, hitting only two of his six shots and missing both of his threes.

This outing falls significantly short of his season averages of 25.2 points, 6.3 assists, and four rebounds. the Suns star is having an extremely down season in terms of efficiency, logging just 45.5% from the field and 31.1% from three.

How Did the Phoenix Suns Adjust Without Booker?

Without Booker, the Suns relied on backup guards Jordan Goodwin, Amir Coffey, and Jamaree Bouyea. As of the third quarter, things haven’t gone too well. Goodwin has performed well, logging 10 points, four rebounds, and an assist in about 24 minutes, but Bouyea and Coffey have been ineffective in their time on the floor.

In Booker’s absence, co-star Jalen Green has taken up the scoring load, logging 19 points, while point guard Collin Gillespie has taken the playmaking responsibilities, logging six assists.

Unfortunately for them, the Spurs came out firing, and have been able to largely bury the Suns with an offensive barrage, with six players hitting double digits before the fourth quarter. Victor Wembanyama has completely shut down any scoring attempts at the rim with five blocks, and Stephon Castle has been a menace on the perimeter with three steals.

The Suns are down by 27 entering the fourth, and they’ll need to play almost perfectly if they hope to walk away victorious. If the Spurs emerge victorious, it will mark their first win of the season series after two losses in November, with the concluding game coming in March.

For Booker, hopefully he can recover quickly so that the team can see more of their top two players on the floor together, with the two having played just seven games together as of today. Booker’s next chance to take the floor will be against the Orlando Magic on Saturday.