Preview: Suns Face Pelicans

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns (12-8) are set to embark on a four-game road set beginning tonight against the struggling New Orleans Pelicans (4-18) at the Smoothie King Center.

Tonight will be the first of at least three games in which Phoenix will be without Kevin Durant - who suffered an ankle sprain in Tuesday night's victory over the San Antonio Spurs, while the Pelicans have dealt with a myriad of injury woes.

Without further ado - we will go other a brief preview below.

Pelicans: Still Dealing With Many Injuries

The Pelicans have returned Dejounte Murray, C.J. McCollum, and Trey Murphy III in recent weeks - but still remain a long way away from having the entire team back together.

Zion Williamson, Jordan Hawkins, and Jose Alvarado are all out. Brandon Ingram and Herb Jonea re questionable. The 4-18 start for New Orleans is almost certainly due to this historically significant string of injury luck.

Nonetheless, the Pelicans have yet to win a game since November 15 - so they have been something of a free win for opponents for three weeks now.

Still, the Suns can't take the Pelicans lightly - Murphy, Ingram, and McCollum all have the ability to take a game over.

Player to Watch: Yves Missi

Missi - a rookie from Baylor - was on the Suns' radar going into draft night in June before being selected by New Orleans before Phoenix had a chance to pick.

Missi is questionable tonight, but has averaged 15.4 PPG over his last five played - while also averaging a whopping 3.5 offensive boards per night and blocking 1.2 shots a game.

Missi is still somewhat raw on the offensive side of the ball, but has come along quite nicely in recent weeks - as the Pelicans had an obvious hole at center that opened up a sizable role for him.

If he is good to go, it will be interesting to see what the Suns do to combat his dominant play on the offensive glass. If he isn't able to go, watch out for Murphy to be the one to potentially take over the game. Missi just presents a unique challenge to the Suns relative to others.

Prediction: Suns Win

This could come off as a "trap game" for Phoenix - but the return of Bradley Beal to complement Devin Booker should be enough to overcome potential for an upset.

Booker has averaged 55 PPG over the last two meetings between the two squads - and Oso Ighodaro should be a worthy match against Missi. This could be a game where Phoenix rides momentum of a quality week-plus stretch of play into a continued push to climb up the standings.

Suns-Pelicans is set to tip off shortly after 6 P.M. Arizona time tonight.