The Dario Saric injury has sneakily thrown off the Suns’ lineups and rotations, eliminating their second-biggest rotation player and forcing an already undersized group (at least in this matchup) to play smaller whenever Deandre Ayton is off the floor. This could’ve been a series the Suns used Saric at the four alongside Ayton, pushing Jae Crowder, Cameron Johnson and/or Torrey Craig to the three in bigger lineups. Phoenix has been forced to play either Johnson or Craig at center, sliding a non-Ayton starter into the vacant slot to form a small lineup. That’s a win for Milwaukee. Saric wouldn’t have solved the rebounding or rim-protection issues, but his gravity as a spot-up shooter and pick-and-pop big could’ve helped offensively.
