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The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> got a meaningful piece of late-season news after the Phoenix Suns<\/a> ruled out Devin Booker for Friday night\u2019s game in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Phoenix listed Booker as out with right ankle injury management, alongside Jordan Goodwin and Haywood Highsmith, while Jalen Green was listed as questionable. That matters immediately for a Lakers team still trying to lock down the best playoff position it can in a crowded Western Conference race.<\/p>\n It also matters because the Lakers are hardly entering this game at full strength themselves. On Thursday\u2019s official NBA injury report for Los Angeles<\/a>, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Jaxson Hayes and Marcus Smart were all listed out. Doncic is dealing with a left hamstring strain, Reaves has a left oblique strain, Hayes is out with left foot soreness and Smart is sidelined by a right ankle contusion.<\/p>\n Suns injury report at Lakers:<\/p>\n OUT: Devin Booker (right ankle injury management), Jordan Goodwin (left ankle sprain) and Haywood Highsmith (right knee injury management).<\/p>\n QUESTIONABLE: Jalen Green (right knee soreness). #Suns<\/a> <\/p>\n Why Devin Booker\u2019s absence is such a big break for the Lakers<\/p>\n This is not just a case of a star sitting in a meaningless season finale. Booker has been the Suns\u2019 offensive engine and was coming off a 37-point, nine-assist performance in Phoenix\u2019s win over Dallas. That victory clinched the No. 7 seed in the West for the Suns, which helps explain the decision to sit him now. Phoenix already knows it is heading to the Play-In Tournament and no longer has a guaranteed playoff seed to chase.<\/p>\n For the Lakers, though, the stakes are different.<\/p>\n Los Angeles entered this stretch tied with the Houston Rockets<\/a> at 50-29, with the Lakers holding the No. 4 seed via tiebreaker. That spot matters because the No. 4 seed comes with home-court advantage in the first round. Reuters also noted<\/a> Denver had moved 1.5 games ahead of the Lakers and Rockets for No. 3, which means every remaining result still shapes where the Lakers land and who they are likely to face.<\/p>\n So even if the Lakers are managing their own health problems, getting Phoenix without Booker is still a significant development. A Booker-less Suns team is simply less dangerous late in games, less organized offensively and easier to load up against in half-court defense.<\/p>\n The Lakers are still dealing with major injury issues of their own<\/p>\n That is what keeps this from becoming an automatic win for Los Angeles.<\/p>\n The Lakers\u2019 own injury picture remains serious. Thursday\u2019s official report listed Doncic, Reaves, Hayes and Smart out against Golden State, and recent reporting around the team has made clear that Doncic\u2019s hamstring injury and Reaves\u2019 oblique injury are the biggest concerns heading toward the postseason. It was reported earlier this week that Reaves is expected to miss the rest of the regular season, while Doncic\u2019s strained hamstring is one of the major storylines hanging over the Lakers\u2019 playoff chances.<\/p>\n LeBron James also sat out Wednesday\u2019s loss to Oklahoma City as part of the Lakers\u2019 recent health management picture, according to Reuters, underscoring how thin Los Angeles has looked at the worst possible time on the calendar.<\/p>\n That is why Booker being ruled out matters so much. The Lakers do not currently have the margin for error of a fully healthy contender. They need breaks where they can get them.<\/p>\n What this means for the playoff race<\/p>\n Phoenix has already clinched the West\u2019s No. 7 seed and will host a play-in game next week. The NBA\u2019s play-in tournament begins April 14, and the full playoffs start April 18. In other words, the Suns have a reason to think longer term and protect key players.<\/p>\n The Lakers\u2019 situation is more urgent.<\/p>\n Their game against Phoenix comes with only a tiny amount of runway left in the regular season, and the schedule offers almost no time to recover from a bad loss. NBA.com\u2019s Lakers schedule<\/a> page shows Friday\u2019s home game against the Suns followed by Sunday\u2019s regular-season finale at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n That means Friday is not just another game. It is one of the final chances for Los Angeles to stabilize its standing, protect home-court hopes and rebuild some rhythm before the playoffs begin.<\/p>\n A healthy Booker would have made that much harder. Without him, the Lakers have a better path to controlling the game, even if they still have to survive their own injury situation to capitalize.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tErik Anderson<\/a> is an award-winning sports journalist covering the NBA, MLB and NFL for Heavy.com. He also focuses on the trading card market. His work has appeared in nationally-recognized outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press , USA Today, and ESPN. More about Erik Anderson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lakers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t