Preview/Game Details: Hornets host Suns and their big three – At The Hive

What: Charlotte Hornets (17-49) (9-23 home) vs Phoenix Suns (38-28) (17-14 home)

When: 7:00pm Eastern

Where: Spectrum Center; Charlotte, NC

How to watch: NBATV, Bally Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass

Outfitting: Hornets–Classic (teal), Suns–Association (white)

Game Lines: Hornets +9.5, O/U 217.5

Injuries:
Hornets: LaMelo Ball-out (ankle), Cody Martin-out (ankle), Seth Curry-out (ankle), Mark Williams-out (back), Bryce McGowens-out (knee)

Suns: Josh Okogie-out (tummy), Eric Gordon-questionable (knee), Bradley Beal/Kevin Durant/Devin Booker-questionable (just cause)

None of the Suns big three of Booker, Beal, or Durant are actually listed as injured, but the Suns are on the second night of a road back to back with a nationally televised date with the Bucks scheduled for Sunday afternoon. It’s a prime spot to sit one or more of their stars.

It’s probably been a disappointing regular season for the Suns, though they’d probably tell you they don’t care about the regular season. They’ve struggled to keep their team healthy, which seems to be the norm for these recent superstar megatron teams. When all of their big three are healthy, they’ve been predictably very difficult to stop. They don’t play great defense with those three on the floor, but their being impossible to guard means they score more than enough to make up for it.

The Suns are all talent no scheme. They shoot the most long jumpers in the league, and according to Cleaning the Glass, their shot profile would predict the third worst effective field goal percentage in the league. But Booker, Beal, and Durant are all analytics breakers. They’re absurdly efficient in the mid range even when creating their own shots off the dribble. The team made them even more impossible to guard by acquiring a behemoth center in Jusuf Nurkic that can clear out space for them and Grayson Allen, who’s the best 3-point shooter in the league this season.

The Suns’ fatal flaw is their depth. Eric Gordon and Royce O’Neale are good outside shooting depth, but Gordon in particular is a walking question mark in terms of health. After that, they’ve got like Bol Bol and Ish Wainwright to try to absorb some bench minutes. The Hornets are so banged up that they don’t have the bench talent to take advantage of that weakness, but it might be their best shot if each of the big three suit up.