Phoenix Suns' Grayson Allen rethinks approach in return from ankle injury in playoffs

Grayson Allen having a wrap on his right ankle wearing sandals isn’t exactly a fashion statement, but it's an indication as to why he was unable to finish his first season with the Phoenix Suns on the court.

Allen didn’t play in Game 3 or Game 4 with a right ankle sprain initially suffered in the third quarter of Game 1 when stepping on Karl-Anthony Towns’ foot.

“It’s really frustrating, especially with something like that that’s all about the luck or circumstances of stepping on someone’s foot,” Allen said. “Especially feeling like Game 1 when it happened, I got kind of lucky. I felt pretty good, good enough to play in Game 2, but for it to happen twice and it be worse the second time, it sucks that it happened then and at such an important time.”

Allen didn’t return in Game 1, but he made it back for Game 2 only to roll his right ankle landing on Mike Conley’s foot after trying to block his shot from behind in the third quarter.

“He rolled that thing really good,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said before Game 4. “He keeps trying. Each time he does some work to test it out, it feels even worse the next day.”

The Suns guard remained out the rest of Game 2 – and never returned for the playoffs.

“Just because of where we were in the playoffs, it’s easy in hindsight to say, 'Oh it flared up, you should give it four days, and then tried for Game 4' or whatever, but we kind of decided that it was worth it to try,” Allen said.

Allen was listed as questionable before Game 3 and Game 4. He only scored a total of seven points in his two playoff games in a span of 42 minutes, shooting 1-of-5 from 3.

“I ramped it up pretty much every other day to try to play in Game 3, gave it a break, tried to ramp it up and play in Game 4, and both times, it just wasn’t good enough and responded the next day or later in the afternoon with some more swelling and a good amount of more pain,” Allen continued. “Looking back, it probably would’ve been smart to not try each time, but I still in the moment thought it was worth it.”

The sixth-seeded Suns were swept by the third-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs as Allen’s injury was the latest in a multitude of them this season.

“We kind of had a lot of bad hands dealt,” Suns guard Bradley Beal said. “That’s every team in the NBA. We lost Grayson Game 3 and Game 4. That stinks. We’ve been dealt some bad hands throughout the year, but that’s every team.”

Allen had a career season in his first year with the Suns. Averaging 13.5 points in 75 games, Allen led the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage at a career-best 46.1%. He finished tied for 10th with Miami's Duncan Robinson in the NBA's Most Improved Player voting.

The Suns signed Allen to a four-year, $70-million extension right before the NBA playoffs that kicks in next season.

“I think I fit really well with this group and played my best basketball of my career this season,” Allen said. “It’s really early to start looking towards next year, but I’m excited I can continue to play with this group and continue to get better as a group.”

The Suns acquired Allen from Milwaukee in a three-team trade right before training camp that sent Damian Lillard to the Bucks, Deandre Ayton to Portland and 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic to Phoenix.

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Grayson Allen rethinks approach to return from injury in playoffs