Head coach Frank Vogel and the Phoenix Suns have worked through an up and down beginning portion to the 2023-24 NBA season. The Suns currently sit at 7-6 but have yet to see the debut of star trio Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, who have not played a game together so far, causing Vogel to have to shuffle the rotations amidst the absences.
Now, that challenge for Vogel will be made even tougher due to an injury sustained by bench sharpshooter Yuta Watanabe, who is currently dealing with a deep thigh bruise. In fact, Vogel went so far as to call the injury “very painful,” per Duane Rankin of AZ Central. Watanabe will miss his second straight game with the ailment when the Suns take on the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday evening.
While Yuta Watanabe is not necessarily a player who will garner a lot of shot attempts for a Suns lineup that features the star trio of Durant, Beal, and Booker, he is still extremely important to the Suns' attack with his ability to stretch the floor, even if he doesn't have the ball in his hands.
Depth was a major question mark, and perhaps the only question mark, for the Suns coming into this season, due to the sheer volume of assets that the team had to part ways with in order to bring in the likes of Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal over the last several months. With Yatanube now out of the lineup, that depth will be mitigated even further.