Suns Forced to Change Starting Lineup vs Spurs

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns will be facing an uphill battle tonight as they close out a six-game road trip against the red-hot San Antonio Spurs.

Already on a three-game losing streak, the Suns (39-30) ruled out Grayson Allen (knee), Royce 0'Neale (knee) and Haywood Highsmith (knee) ahead of tonight's matchup with Dillon Brooks (hand) and Mark Williams (foot) already sidelined.

The Spurs (51-19), who have won 19 of their past 21 games, originally did not have any notable injuries heading into tonight until they suddenly ruled out Stephon Castle (right hip tightness) about 30 minutes ago.

Suns' Starters vs Spurs

With O'Neale joining Brooks and Williams as out, the Suns have been forced to change their starting lineup for tonight's game.

Here's what the new lineup will be:

Collin Gillespie
Devin Booker
Jalen Green
Jordan Goodwin
Oso Ighodaro

This group has not started any game together this season, and Goodwin surprisingly gets his fifth first start of the year in place of O'Neale, who had played in every game so far this year and started all but five of them.

Highsmith has been playing really well off the bench, so he seemed like a prime candidate to replace O'Neale in the starting group before he was ruled out a short time ago.

Rasheer Fleming and Ryan Dunn also could have replaced O'Neale.

Instead, the Suns will roll with a four-guard lineup against Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio, although Goodwin plays much bigger than his size.

Suns Facing Tough Challenge vs Spurs

The Suns need every win they can get at this point of the season, but they have not been easy to come by as of late, and Phoenix sits 2.5 games back of the sixth seed in the West with 13 games remaining heading into tonight.

Phoenix blew an early double-digit lead in its loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday after blowing late fourth quarter leads to the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors in its two previous games.

Now, the Suns will have to go against a team that is firing on all cylinders as of late in the Spurs.

The Spurs also faced the Suns when they were shorthanded on Feb. 19, defeating Phoenix 121-94 in a game Booker left in the first half due to a hip injury, Allen missed after spraining his ankle and Brooks was suspended for.

Phoenix only shot 37.1% from the field in this last meeting and is coming off shooting 38.1% against Minnesota, so the Suns will need to get back on track offensively especially with all the injuries if they want to have a chance tonight.

Tonight's game is scheduled to tip off shortly after 5:00 p.m. MST.