Preview: Suns Face Jazz Before Hitting Road

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns (30-21) are set to hot the Utah Jazz (26-26) tonight at Footprint Center.

The Suns lead the season series over the Jazz 3-0 and are looking for a sweep tonight - but this is a different Jazz team than the one Phoenix saw in November.

Bradley Beal is listed as questionable for the game with an ankle sprain. He's the only Phoenix player (other than Damion Lee) who was on the injury report.

Three headlines going into tonight:

Jazz: A Different Team

The Jazz played the Suns three times in the first 13 games - falling to 4-9 after the last defeat on November 19.

Utah hit a low point following a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 18, a game in which they fell to 10-18.

Since then, the Lauri Markkanen-led squad has gone 16-8 and look more like the team that competed for a playoff spot for much of last season.

They are also coming off of two wins against elite teams in the Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks.

Utah is a solid squad with much quality depth and the headlining star in Markkanen.

It will be interesting to see which direction the franchise goes ahead of the trade deadline.

Trade Deadline

Speaking of the trade deadline, the Jazz could decide to sacrifice some short-term success for valuable pieces going forward.

The Jazz agreed to ship second year F Simone Fontechhio out to Detroit yesterday - which could just be a flash in the pan, but many are expecting the possibility that more players are moved.

Jordan Clarkson, Ochai Agbaji, Kelly Olynyk, and Kris Dunn could be potential trade candidates to look out for.

Utah could continue to sell and accrue picks while also clearing cap space (they already have approximately $40 million in cap room this offseason.)

They could also ultimately decide that this draft isn't intriguing enough overall and believe in their ability to make the playoffs, which would lead to largely standing pat.

On the Suns' side - Phoenix earlier today agreed to a deal to take on Royce O'Neal from the Brooklyn Nets.

Player to Watch: Collin Sexton

What a player Sexton has become.

Once heralded as an elite prospect ahead of the 2018 draft and even averaging close to 25 PPG in 2020-21, Sexton became something of an afterthought after the Cleveland Cavaliers saw him as a bad fit next to Darius Garland.

The Alabama product was moved to Utah as a part of the Donovan Mitchell trade - and got off to a slow start in the new atmosphere.

Sexton has been a different player since the turn of December in his second season in Salt Lake City, averaging 20.6 points and 6.1 assists per game while shooting 50.4/43.9/88.0 across 16 games in January.

Sexton might not be seen as the franchise centerpiece that Markkanen is, but he has quickly become a quality player that can impact the game in a multitude of ways.

Suns-Jazz is set to tip off at approximately 7:10 PM Arizona time tonight.