NBA: Suns’ Devin Booker has ‘mild’ hamstring strain

Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns looks on during the first half of Game Two of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs at Footprint Center on April 19, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona.  Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP 

Phoenix’s All-Star guard Devin Booker has a “mild right hamstring strain” and it is not clear when he will return as the Suns battle the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA playoffs first round.

“Devin Booker has sustained a mild right hamstring strain, an MRI confirmed today,” the Suns said in a statement on Wednesday. “There is no timetable for his return and updates will be provided as appropriate.”

ESPN reported that Booker appears likely to miss the next two games but has not been ruled out of the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.

The Pelicans knotted the series at one game each on Tuesday, when they stunned the top-seeded Suns 125-114.

Booker scored 31 of Phoenix’s 61 first-half points and the Suns led by five at halftime. His seven first-half three-pointers were a career playoff high for any full game.

But Booker tweaked his right hamstring — apparently as he was jumping to challenge a Jaxson Hayes dunk — and was removed in the third quarter.

Booker is no stranger to hamstring injuries. He missed seven games with a left hamstring strain suffered in November. In last season’s NBA finals he played through a hamstring injury suffered in game three, which he did not reveal until the Suns had fallen to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games.

Game three in the series is on Friday in New Orleans.