Phoenix Suns star guard Chris Paul suffered a thumb injury in a game against the Houston Rockets last week. It happened on a foul that went uncalled, leading to Paul being ejected from said game.
With the future Hall of Famer already sidelined for Sunday’s All-Star Game, we’re now hearing more information on the injury. It’s not great news for Paul and his championship-contending Suns team.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Paul suffered a right thumb avulsion fracture. He’ll be evaluated again in 6-8 weeks.
Related: Where does Chris Paul rank among NBA’s top-50 players?
Impact of Chris Paul injury news on the Phoenix Suns
To say that this timeline is troubling for a league-best Suns squad would be an understatement. The six-week time frame would take us to about the final week of the regular season. If Paul is out eight weeks or longer, he’d likely miss at least the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
Again, the timeline is only set for re-evaluation. There’s no telling when Chris Paul will actually be back on the court.
The one bit of good news here is that Phoenix it boasts a 48-10 record and is 6.5 games ahead of the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference. It will be difficult for Golden State to make up that ground, even with Paul injury.
- Chris Paul stats (2021-22): 14.9 PG, 4.5 RPG, 10.7 APG, 49% shooting, 33% three-point
Despite being 36 years old and in the latter stages of his career, CP3 remains one of the top players in the entire Association.
He’s been absolutely tremendous on the defensive end of the court, including a No. 8 ranking in defensive box plus-minus and No. 2 ranking in defensive win shares.
This helped the defending Western Conference champions head into the All-Star Break ranked sixth in points allowed and third in defensive rating.
More than what Paul does on offense, this is going to hurt Phoenix moving forward. The hope is that Paul will be back for the playoffs. Until then, it’s all about fellow All-Star Devin Booker continuing to step up.