Charlotte Hornets Start West Coast Trip in Phoenix Against Devin Booker and the Suns

Grab your coffee losers, the Charlotte Hornets are going on a west coast road trip.

After dropping a gutty, playoff-like contest against the Miami Heat, Charlotte has a chance to get back in the win column just 48 hours later in a nationally televised game against Devin Booker and the Suns. The Hornets' injury report is relatively clean, but there are a couple of notable absences on the other side.

Injury Report

Charlotte Hornets: OUT Tidjane Salaün (Calf)

Phoenix Suns: OUT Dillon Brooks (Hand), Jordan Goodwin (Calf), Mark Williams (Foot),

The Mark Williams revenge game will have to wait. After Charlotte shipped Williams to the desert this summer, the first matchup between the hulking center and his former team was circled on the calendars of Hornets fans.

Joining Williams on the sideline is Dillon Brooks, the controversial swingman who has had a renaissance in his first year as a Sun. Brooks is averaging 20 points per game on the season, the second most on the team, and Phoenix has struggled without their emotional leader. The Suns are 3-3 in their last six games without Brooks with the second-worst offense in the league over that stretch.

Without Brooks and Williams in the lineup, expect Phoenix to get up a ton of three-point attempts. Jordan Ott has the Suns playing a perimeter-heavy approach on offense with Phoenix attempting the sixth-highest frequency of three-point attempts in the NBA and the second-fewest number of attempts at the rim.

Key Matchup: Collin Gillespie vs. LaMelo Ball

The gap between Gillespie's noteriety and his impact is as large as any player in the league.

According to Dunks and Three's EPM, Gillespie (+2.5) is Phoenix's most impactful player, ahead of Brooks (+1.1) and perennial All-Star Devin Booker (+2.3). He is an undersized point guard who is a maestro of a passer that bombs away from deep. Gillespie can be picked on defensively, but his IQ and activity allow him to create steals off of deflections in passing lanes.

His primary matchup tonight, LaMelo Ball, is coming off one of his worst games of the calendar year. Ball finished the loss against Miami with 21 points on 22 shots, five assists, and three turnovers. The engine of Charlotte's offense sputtered against the disruptive Miami 2-3 zone defense.

For the most part, the Hornets' offense goes as LaMelo does, and he'll need to play better tonight, and throughout the entirety of this west coast road trip, in order for Charlotte to continue their winning ways.

Projected Starting Lineups

Charlotte Hornets
LaMelo Ball	Collin Gillespie
Brandon Miller	Devin Booker
Kon Knueppel	Jalen Green
Miles Bridges	Royce O'Neale
Moussa Diabate	Oso Ighodaro