The Phoenix Suns will have to face the Portland Trail Blazers without Rasheer Fleming tonight, after the team downgraded the forward from questionable to out because of a left ankle sprain.
Fleming is one of two Suns ruled out, joining Mark Williams. Jordan Goodwin remains questionable.
Phoenix is trying to snap a three-game skid as it opens a seven-game homestand against Portland. The Blazers already handled the Suns once this season, rolling to a 124-83 win in the regular season opener.
For Fleming, the injury comes at a time when his role has already been limited. After turning heads in Summer League and generating real optimism heading into the 2026-27 season, the sophomore forward has barely cracked the rotation. He has appeared in only two games and is averaging 7.5 minutes, with Dillon Brooks and Miles Bridges locked in as starters and Ryan Dunn, along with Goodwin at times, taking the wing minutes off the bench.
At Media Day, Suns coach Jordan Ott made it clear he still sees upside in Fleming. “What excites me is we don’t know where that ceiling is," Ott said.
"I think he continues to raise the floor by his work, his care, his understanding of who he is as a player. He has no idea where his ceiling is, nor do we.”
Ott also pointed to the traits that made Fleming intriguing in the first place. “He has physical gifts that you cannot teach.
He has tremendous instincts that at times you just shake your head…how did he get to that? And now he’s starting to feel it, and that feeling of ‘I belong, I can do this.’”
The forward’s length and two-way ability gave him a strong foundation, but Phoenix appears to want more growth before handing him meaningful minutes. For now, he’ll have to deal with the ankle issue on top of the challenge of carving out a place in the Suns’ rotation.
In Other News...
Suns Just Saw Why The Magic Are Already In Trouble
Orlandos rough opening to the 2026-27 season has been hard to miss, and the recent loss to the Suns only sharpened the concerns around a team trying to find its footing without Paolo Banchero and Jalen Suggs. The Magic have stumbled to a 2-6 start, and the issues have been familiar from night to night: too many turnovers, shaky ball control and an offense that has had trouble generating steady scoring when its top options are unavailable.
For Phoenix, the matchup offered a clear look at why the Magic are already under pressure to stabilize things quickly. The shot-making has not been there at a high enough level, especially from 3-point range, and the absence of Banchero and Suggs has left Orlando searching for answers it has not yet found. Until the Magic clean up the mistakes and get more consistent production back in the lineup, the early-season hole is only going to feel deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Are Already Searching For Answers After This Brutal Start
The Suns are already tinkering with the pieces around their rough start, and the latest adjustment came before the matchup with Orlando when they swapped Khaman Maluach out of the first unit and moved Oso Ighodaro into the starting center spot. It is the kind of early-season change that signals urgency without quite tipping into panic, especially for a team still trying to settle on a workable rotation and find some stability around its core.
Jordan Ott also said rookie forward Koa Peat is close to cracking the rotation, another sign that Phoenix is looking inward for answers before reaching for something bigger. Jordan Goodwin and Rasheer Fleming are still sidelined but day-to-day, while Suns analyst Gerald Bourguet has already floated point guard trade ideas if the skid continues, though he would rather see the team exhaust its internal fixes first. [Read more 🡒]
Devin Booker Looked Like Himself In A Suns Win That Solved Nothing
Devin Booker looked like himself again in a Suns win that at least offered a familiar sight in an uneven start to the season. Phoenix beat the Orlando Magic 117-104 on the final stop of Orlandos four-game West Coast trip, with Booker leading the way with 28 points, eight assists and three steals while shooting 50 percent from the field.
Even so, the result did not exactly answer every question around this team. Orlandos 25 turnovers gave Phoenix plenty of easy offense, but the Magic also controlled the glass with 15 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points, a reminder that the Suns still have issues to sort through even when Booker is carrying the scoring load. [Read more 🡒]