{"id":549584,"date":"2026-01-20T21:06:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/549584\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T21:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:06:20","slug":"game-preview-jalen-green-returns-for-the-suns-tonight-against-the-76ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/549584\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview: Jalen Green returns for the Suns tonight against the 76ers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who: Phoenix Suns (26-17) @ Philadelphia 76ers (23-18)<\/p>\n

When: 5:00 pm Arizona Time<\/p>\n

Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena \u2014 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Watch: Arizona\u2019s Family 3TV, Arizona\u2019s Family Sports<\/p>\n

Tonight finally looks to be the night that Jalen Green returns for the Phoenix Suns from his two-and-a-half-month absence with a hamstring injury. Before yesterday\u2019s game against the Brooklyn Nets, Suns head coach Jordan Ott said as much, saying that all signs point to him playing in today\u2019s matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n

Green, 23, was one of the main pieces the Suns acquired when they traded Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets during the offseason. A 20-point scorer for his career, Green played two games for the Suns this year after re-aggravating his hamstring that he had hurt before the season. In two games this season, Green averaged 15.5 points per game in the two contests, but got hurt in the second. Green\u2019s 29 points were the second-most ever scored in a Suns debut, and his six made threes are the most ever in a Suns debut.<\/p>\n

Coming into the matchup, the Suns have momentum. Strong games from Dillon Brooks, Devin Booker, and Collin Gillespie, along with the team hitting 20 or more threes, led the team to a 126-117 victory<\/a> over the Brooklyn Nets for their second in a row and fifth in seven games.<\/p>\n

Phoenix is currently tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for sixth in the Western Conference. A win tonight over the Philadelphia 76ers would make them ten games over .500 for the first time this season and since the 2023-24 season. Philadelphia is no easy opponent, however.<\/p>\n

Projected Starting Lineups<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Mark Williams \u2014 QUESTIONABLE (Right Knee Injury Management)Jordan Goodwin \u2014 AVAILABLE (Jaw Sprain)Joel Embiid \u2014 OUT (Right Ankle Injury Management)Paul George \u2014 QUESTIONABLE (Left Knee Injury Management)Johni Broome \u2014 DOUBTFUL (Left Thumb)Kelly Oubre, Jr. \u2014 AVAILABLE (Left Knee)<\/p>\n

Obviously, how Jalen Green performs and how the team adjusts to his presence. There\u2019s not a large sample size of how he\u2019ll perform as a Sun, considering he\u2019s played just one whole game without getting hurt, and Dillon Brooks didn\u2019t play in it. Presumably, he\u2019ll be on a minutes restriction, so just because he\u2019s likely to start does not mean that he\u2019ll be playing starters\u2019 minutes.<\/p>\n

Look for Devin Booker to be the team\u2019s primary ball handler and shift back to playing point guard, which he did before Collin Gillespie became a starter. The Suns look to have a stronger bench unit if Green is starting. Gillespie and Grayson Allen look to be the team\u2019s first subs, along with Jordan Goodwin playing a combo guard role.<\/p>\n

Like Jordan Ott said postgame after the team\u2019s win, there will be bumps in the process of implementing Green into the rotation, but his presence around the team while injured should help.<\/p>\n

Both teams are coming off victories yesterday. Joel Embiid hasn\u2019t played in a back-to-back in over two years, and Mark Williams\u2019 status for back-to-backs is always in the air. Even with Green returning, the Suns could be missing one of their starters with a roster that played a game less than 24 hours before tip-off.<\/p>\n

If the Suns can do what they did against the Nets, make threes early, move the ball, and limit turnovers, they should be in good shape to get their third-straight win. After being a mystery going into the season, the 76ers are having a strong year. Sitting in fifth in the Eastern Conference, when Joel Embiid has been in the lineup, he\u2019s produced strong numbers, and Tyrese Maxey was just named an All-Star Starter yesterday. Phoenix will have their hands full with Maxey, one of the league\u2019s best guards and leading scorers, they\u2019ll need to find ways to limit his production to get the win.<\/p>\n

Suns keep the winning ways rolling. Whether Mark Williams plays or not, I don\u2019t expect Joel Embiid to, so Philadelphia won\u2019t have a strong advantage inside. Jalen Green\u2019s return should give Phoenix another ball handler and fresh legs in the second half of a back-to-back. Give me the Suns in a good win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who: Phoenix Suns (26-17) @ Philadelphia 76ers (23-18) When: 5:00 pm Arizona Time Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,6,678,207,3817,30667],"class_list":{"0":"post-549584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","13":"tag-philadelphia76ers","14":"tag-suns-game-previews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115929468334116856","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}