The Suns are two games away from heading to the play-in tournament in the same season where they had a massive roster overhaul and were expected to initiate a rebuild around Devin Booker. But clearly, things looked too good to be true for them as they near a seventh seed finish in the West.
Facing the Mavericks tonight at home, they lost both Jalen Green and Jordan Goodwin to first-half injuries. Jalen Green limped back to the locker room less than four minutes into the first quarter. He seemingly injured his right leg, which is the same leg that kept him out for a majority of the season.
Jalen Green heads to the locker room with a limp after tweaking something. pic.twitter.com/AxZDdPytAO
— PHNX Suns (@PHNX_Suns) April 9, 2026
Fortunately, it was later reported that the injury was to his knee and not an aggravation of the same hamstring issue he faced. He was questionable to return for the rest of the night.
Moreover, during the second quarter, Goodwin also hobbled his way back to the Suns’ locker room after injuring his left ankle and was not expected to return for the rest of the game.
Jordan Goodwin heading to the locker room as well. https://t.co/FrZtqL61xS pic.twitter.com/XBe1QultRH
— PHNX Suns (@PHNX_Suns) April 9, 2026
The Suns managed a 112-107 win over the Mavericks eventually, courtesy of a 37-point night for Booker and a 28-point game from Dillon Brooks. But they really need both Green and Goodwin back fully healthy if they hope to make an impactful playoff run.
Green was scoreless tonight as he played less than four minutes of action. Meanwhile, Goodwin has nine points, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal while going 3-7 from the field (42.9 FG% and 3-4 from behind the three-point line (75.0 FG%).
While Booker and Brooks have cemented themselves as the top two scoring options for the Suns this season, Green and Goodwin provide a unique edge to their offense as the third and fourth options on their team.
Jordan Ott, the Suns’ head coach confirmed after the win that the two players will get and MRI done tomorrow but both of them were confident they could come out in the second half but the team took the cautious approach as they did not seem like they would be able to play at a 100% in a game that has essentially no value in the long term.
With tonight’s win, the Suns have improved to 44-36 for the season. Since they are three games ahead of the Clippers (41-39), the seventh seed is officially locked for them. They will likely face either the Clippers or the Trail Blazers in the play-in tournament and will need their entire roster to beat any of those teams with their season on the line.
