PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns are officially down Oso Ighodaro tonight against the Golden State Warriors.
The Suns, iniitally listing him as doubtful with an oblique strain, moved him to out in their injury update earlier this afternoon. He's out alongside fellow center Mark Williams while guard Luke Kennard is questionable.
The Warriors are down Steph Curry among a slew of other names tonight — you can read more about that here.
Khaman Maluach is likely to start at center tonight, which he did on Wednesday when Ighodaro was healthy before leaving right before halftime.
Suns-Warriors is set for a 7:00 pm tip time.
More on Oso Ighodaro's Injury
Ighodaro was highly expected to be the team's starting center while Williams will take months to recover from his shoulder surgery. The third-year center was trusted by head coach Jordan Ott last season to do so — though it was the less-experienced Maluach who got the start for Phoenix in their season-opener in Portland.
Ott, when speaking with reporters, says the Suns believe Ighodaro avoided a major injury. This was classified as an oblique injury while Ighodaro suffered from a preseason right hip injury that saw him miss the finale last weekend.
"Oso, pretty good report overall. It's an oblique strain. He'll be out for sure tomorrow," Ott told Suns reporters on Friday. "But we hope it's just more day-to-day than long-term. I think we avoided something serious ... It looks like it's not as serious. It looks like we avoided something."
The Suns play Monday in Oklahoma City before returning home to face the Denver Nuggets on Friday.
"It's the same approach for me. It don't matter whether Oso is out or whether he's playing, we both have the same approach," Maluach told reporters earlier in the day (h/t Duane Rankin).
"We're good players. We're there for our team. We're great teammates. We're going to do whatever it takes to win. It's not like, oh Oso is out now, let me take a bunch of shots or bad shots. It's still the same learning process for me."
Phoenix is desperately hoping to get themselves back on track after being embarrassed in their loss to the Trail Blazers on Wednesday. They'll have to do so short-handed with Ighodaro officially ruled out.
However, the Warriors enter tonight's clash at Mortgage Matchup Center especially depleted, leaving no excuse for Phoenix to not win tonight regardless of Ighodaro's health.
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