Injured Phoenix Suns stars officially play against Los Angeles Lakers

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns officially move into tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers with their full roster after releasing both Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant to play.

This comes on the heels of missing Durant and Beal for two-plus weeks apiece with left calf strains, from which they had recovered well enough to be considered probable entering Monday’s official injury report.

The Suns have struggled mightily since the injuries — going 1-6 without Durant and 0-5 without Beal — so it goes without saying that the duo returning to the lineup will have massive positive ramifications.

“It’s going to be great. Having those two back in the starting lineup now, just watching them and seeing how they play. Bringing that extra firepower back to the team — that’s going to help us a lot,” rookie forward Ryan Dunn said.

Durant had been seen as a strong candidate for MVP early in the season – averaging 27.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 3.4 RPG to go along with a continued solid defense.

Beal was coming off 24 and 28 points before his exit from the lineup — it will be interesting to see if the second-year Sun can regroup the momentum that had been built before his injury.

This massive boost of reinforcements will help ease the responsibilities of Devin Booker while also repositioning role players like Ryan Dunn, Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen back into more natural complementary roles.

The Suns will also face Anthony Davis tonight as Davis was cleared after being listed as probable due to a foot injury.

The Suns and Lakers are set to tip off shortly after 8:00 PM Arizona time tonight and will be televised nationally on TNT.