Phoenix Suns Without Devin Booker Against OKC Thunder in NBA Cup Bout

The Oklahoma City Thunder are taking on the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Cup Quarterfinal matchup with the right to head to Vegas on the line to continue their pursuit of the cash prize and NBA Cup title. In this game, the Suns will be without star guard Devin Booker.

Nov 28, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA;Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) dribbles down the court against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Tuesday was a good sign for both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns. The OKC Thunder saw superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Defensive-aces Alex Caruso and Lu Dort come off the injury report and be available for this Wednesday's bout with the Suns in the NBA Cup tournament. The Suns saw star guard Devin Booker upgraded to questionable as he deals with a groin injury that has held him out for this recent stretch.

Being upgraded to questionable ahead of his pre-determined Wednesday re-evaluation date felt like a relief for the Suns. However, 80 minutes before tip-off it was announced that Devin Booker would be out for this tilt between the Phoenix Suns and Oklahoma City Thunder.

That leaves the Suns without their top bucket getters in Jalen Green and Booker, while putting a lot more stress on breakout guard Collin Gillespie and veteran forward Dillon Brooks to break through offensively against this historically great Oklahoma City Thunder defensive unit.

In the last meeting between these two teams, in the Paycom Center to wrap up the NBA Cup pool play stage, the Suns played the Thunder down to the wire, falling 123-119. That alone is an impressive feat against an Oklahoma City club that has blown out more opponents than anyone with their league best 15.9 net rating, lapping the second placed Houston Rockets (10,8).

During that contest, Booker went for 21 points while his scoring gravity helped shake Gilllespie and Brooks loose for 24 and 19 points respectively. Without the attention on Booker, life gets harder for those two and the turnover column becomes even more important as even with the Suns lead ball handler in action Phoenix turned it over 18 times.

That was also the first game without Isaiah Hartenstein for Oklahoma City and Phoenix took full advantage, dominating on the glass, 51-37. That trend must continue with Mark Williams in the middle during this affair if the Suns hope to advance to Vegas.

The narrow loss to end group play allowed the Suns to capture the lone wild card spot and the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and force a rematch against the top seeded Oklahoma City Thunder who went a perfect 4-0 in pool play and owned the best point differential in the knockout stage to edge out the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 1 seed.

As Booker is ruled out, and we have the full injury report in hand, the Thunder are for the first time all season arguably the more healthy club in a contest. Oklahoma City is only missing two rotational pieces with Isaiah Hartenstein and Isaiah Joe still in street clothes.

Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of the NBA Cup tournament as the Oklahoma City Thunder attempt to make their second straight trip to the Vegas final four. As well as the complete season for the Bricktown Ballers as the Thunder continue to chase history and win back-to-back NBA Championships.