Not So Sunny In Phoenix

The NBA trade deadline may have come and gone without any major moves, but a day after the deadline passed, the Suns found out the forward/center Amare Stoudemire may be out for the rest of the regular season with damage to his retina in his right eye. Stoudemire, who injured the same eye in October, could miss up to eight weeks for surgery to repair a partially detached retina.

This is terrible news for Suns fans who now know that the playoff picture is slowly fading away. The Suns are one game back from the final seed and with their big man out eight weeks, that number could continue to grow. More bad news for the Suns—Stoudemire was striving under new coach Alvin Gentry. The Suns were primed for their return to fast paced offense from the Mike D’Antoni days. Having Stoudemire out could trickle down to the rest of the team. Stoudemire was Nash’s favorite target on pick and rolls. Shaq can’t afford more minutes on his aging body.

So all the optimism that Suns fans had when the front office didn’t unload Shaq or Stoudemire at the trade deadline is now gone. It will be up to new coach Gentry to work with the players he has to keep this team in playoff contention until Stoudemire returns—if he does. But for now, things don’t look too good for the Phoenix Suns.