The NBA fined the Suns $25,000 on Saturday for “violating league injury reporting rules.”
The league said the team failed to disclose Devin Booker’s injury status for Game 6 against the Pelicans in “an accurate and timely manner.” It was reported that the All-Star guard had a Grade 1 hamstring strain after dropping 31 points in Game 2 against New Orleans. He sat out of the lineup over the next nine days, missing Games 3-5 while Phoenix went 2-1 in that stretch.
It was initially reported that Booker could be out for 2-3 weeks, but he returned Thursday and scored 13 points on 5-for-12 from the field in the Suns’ Game 6 victory.
Coach Monty Williams was asked about the guard’s injury after practice Saturday, and he said, per ESPN, “I thought he was fine .When I talked to him, he was straight with me, like, ‘Coach, I’m fine, I feel strong.’ But when you watched the film, he did find places where you saw he might go or he might run full speed back in transition—it wasn’t like he was cheating the game, he was just more efficient.
“He hadn’t played in over a week, so that probably had a lot to do with it, but in the second half I thought I saw more of an effort to just play. And we needed it.”
Phoenix returns to action Monday as it hosts Dallas in the conference semifinals.
