Devin Booker Embracing Rest as Suns Prepare for Postseason

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns are locked into the Western Conference's seventh seed with just two games remaining, and Devin Booker doesn't sound too upset about it.

The Suns, with road matchups against the Los Angeles Lakers (Friday) and Oklahoma City Thunder (Sunday) approaching to finish the regular season, can't move up or down in their sealed fate.

As a result, Phoenix is heavily expected to give their lineup some rest.

That's already been made clear with Booker marked as out for tonight's matchup in Los Angeles — you can read more from the injury report here.

"Yeah, right now, I feel that way," Booker said on the rest being an advantage after the team's win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, clinching homecourt advantage in the NBA's play-in tournament.

"I think a few guys that are just coming back, too Dillon [Brooks] and Mark [Williams] it might be good to catch a rhythm. So I'm sure there will be a lot of conversation about that in the next 24 hours."

Phoenix has completely shocked initial expectations this season after parting ways with names such as Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. Nearly all outside voices expected the Suns to be one of the worst teams in the league.

The Suns were hoping to eventually climb into the West's top six seeds, though a mix of close losses and unfortunate injury luck just couldn't see Phoenix make that happen.

Now, with their destiny locked, the Suns will have to strike a balance between upholding level of play and health.

What that looks like over the weekend remains to be seen, according to Suns head coach Jordan Ott.

"We haven't talked about it. I mean, as a group, we haven't talked about it. I think we'll continue to assess how our guys come out of this back-to-back, and then we'll plan accordingly the best we can," said Ott.

"Balancing rhythm versus rest, especially on a group that doesn't have a ton of reps on the floor together, a ton of game time, but the number one thing always is health. That's always the most important piece. So hopefully we're getting closer there."

That's certainly the hope, as the Suns will play host to either the Los Angeles Clippers or Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday for the 7/8 NBA play-in tournament game at Mortgage Matchup Center. No seventh seed has failed to advance past the play-in stage.