Suns’ Beal opens up about injury in diary
Perhaps the Phoenix Suns' disappointing 14-14 start to the 2023-24 season has weighed on nobody more than star guard Bradley Beal.
Beal has mostly been unable to respond to the team's struggles, as he missed 23 of Phoenix's first 29 games. Initially, back spasms robbed him of playing for the first seven games of the season. Then, after he was able to return for three games starting on Nov. 8 at Chicago, he strained his back after that stretch and missed the next 12 contests. Finally, he returned to the court on Nov. 12 vs. Golden State, but he only lasted three games again before going down with another injury.
This time, the injury was a right ankle sprain that he suffered as he drained a three-point shot within the first five minutes of the game. Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo stepped into Beal's circle on the way down and Beal sprained his ankle as he landed on DiVincenzo's heel. DiVincenzo was awarded a flagrant foul, and Beal nailed the free throw to complete the fourpoint play before he left the game and has been out since.
He'll be out at least until he is re-evaluated in early January. He reflected on his journey in dealing with these injuries in the “Bradley Beal diary” and video series produced by Andscape with Marc J. Spears. While Beal characterized himself as "an independent person" in the diary video, he acknowledged the tough parts about dealing with this alone as well.
Beal dealing with the time to himself
"Part of me always enjoys a little bit of time of myself and trying to reflect and see where I am in life," Beal said. "See where I want to be. Reflect on your goals, reflect on life a little bit. But it’s also been frustrating. It can be a dangerous place to be alone. You are calling your thoughts a lot."
He certainly has had plenty of time to reflect about the season. Many fans and writers around the valley have been asking countless variations of "what could have been?" questions surrounding this team. The Suns have only played one full game with their Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Beal all healthy and on the court together.
"You do get caught in that mindset of questioning a lot, and it’s something I kind of caught myself and try to refrain from doing a little bit because we do get caught up in our own ways and the mind is a very powerful tool," Beal said. "We don’t realize how strong our brains are and how influential they are to how we act, how we think or how we feel toward things."
In the one game the Suns' three stars played together, they lost. However, that doesn't tell the story of how Phoenix looked when all three were on the floor together. In those minutes, up through the few minutes they shared the floor together in that next game when Beal sprained his ankle, the team posted a +15 plus/minus over 23.8 minutes (per Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports).
Beal was on a minutes restriction in all six games he played. In the time he was out there with his other star teammates, the team played very well as a whole. Optimism about how the team would look when Beal can play a full game was through the roof.
Beal's mindset as he moves through recovery
Beal has put his focus on trying to stay positive, despite the injury bug biting early and often for the three-time All-Star.
"Being positive is a powerful thing for the mind," Beal said. "If you tell yourself, ‘Man, I don’t feel good,’ you won’t feel good. If you tell yourself, ‘I’m in pain,’ you’re going to be in pain . ... You’re going to feel those things, and eventually you’re going to start believing that is who I am."
Beal has averaged 14.7 points per game and 3.2 assists per game in his limited 25.2 minutes per contest in his six games with Phoenix this season. He has shot 44.9% from the field and 42.9% from deep. That efficiency put him right on schedule to rack up elite scoring numbers when he can shed his minutes restriction.
The amount of times Beal has had to hear about an injury diagnosis hasn't helped either.
"Not just once, but twice. And not just twice, but three times, you know? So, it happens over and over and over again," Beal said. "And I think that’s kind of a frustrating thing, a frustrating state to be in."
Beal has missed 50% of his games in these last three seasons (including this one). He's missed 96 out of 192 games in that time. The year before that, he played the best basketball of his career, being selected to his first All-NBA team.
Perhaps Beal just needs to heal up, and he'll be right back at that level of play. Just last season, Beal shot a career-high 50.6% from the field in his 50 games.
"We know the world is frustrated," Beal said. "They want to see it just as bad as me, trust me. Nobody is more frustrated than me and aggravated as me. We’ll just keep chugging along, building our blocks, and hopefully we’ll be on the back end of this thing here soon."