Lee (knee) underwent a successful procedure to repair his right meniscus and will be out indefinitely, Gerald Bourguet of GoPHNX.com reports.
Lee sustained the injury to his right meniscus during an on-court workout roughly two weeks ago and was forced to undergo surgery. While he wasn't given a timetable for return, he should be expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future. Considering the Suns' massive roster turnover this offseason, it wasn't clear if Lee would be a regular part of the rotation. However, his absence could clear up some opportunities for Grayson Allen and Eric Gordon on the wing.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Out indefinitely with knee injury
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Lee has suffered a right knee injury and will be out until further notice, Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic reports.
Rankin relays that Lee is believed to have suffered a meniscus injury during a recent workout at the team's training facility. The severity remains unclear, but this is certainly an issue that could sideline him for the first few weeks of the regular season. Lee likely wasn't on fantasy radars anyway, but in his presumed absence, Grayson Allen, Eric Gordon and Jordan Goodwin are candidates for increased roles behind Bradley Beal and Devin Booker.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Inks deal with Phoenix
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The Suns signed Lee to a two-year deal with a player option Friday, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports.
Lee will remain in Phoenix after spending the 2022-23 season with the team. The 30-year-old guard averaged 8.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 20.4 minutes across 74 games. With expensive players such as Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal on the roster, the Suns will have to fill out the rest of their depth chart with more cheap moves like Lee.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Modest production in 31 minutes
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Lee contributed eight points (3-7 FG, 0-3 3Pt, 2-2 FT), four rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes during Sunday's 119-114 loss to the Clippers.
Lee saw an uptick in playing time, much like many of his fellow fringe options, but had very little to show for it come the final whistle. Lee has the ability to provide a scoring punch off the bench but with the team now relatively healthy, it is going to be harder for him to crack the rotation, especially with every game now of extra importance.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Back in rotation Monday
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Lee ended with three points (1-1 FG, 1-1 3Pt) over four minutes during Monday's 117-103 win over Utah.
Lee re-entered the rotation after missing the previous three games, logging four minutes in a relatively comfortable win. While he can catch fire from the perimeter, his role is far too insignificant to allow him the opportunity to shine. At this point, he is not even worth considering in deeper formats.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Nice performance in limited action
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Lee finished Wednesday's 132-101 victory over Oklahoma City with nine points (3-6 FG, 1-1 3Pt, 2-3 FT), six rebounds, one assist and one steal in 16 minutes.
Lee's role has taken a hit since Devin Booker returned from injury and Kevin Durant (ankle) joined the team, but he's still in coach Monty Williams' gameplan and has appeared in every game this season. He's capped out at 16 minutes over the past seven games, averaging 6.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in 13.0 minutes.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Heads to bench with Booker back
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Lee will come off the bench Friday at Indiana, Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic reports.
With Devin Booker (groin) back in the fold after a one-game absence, Lee will come off the bench. Across his past nine appearances as a reserve, he's averaged 6.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 19.6 minutes.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Starting Thursday
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Lee will enter the first unit for Thursday's game against Atlanta, Brad Rowland of the Locked On Podcast Network reports.
Lee will make his fifth appearance in the starting lineup this season with the newly acquired Kevin Durant (knee), T.J. Warren and Darius Bazley unavailable and Devin Booker (groin) sidelined for the opening leg of the Suns' back-to-back set. In his first four games with the starters, Lee averaged 12.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists across 29.9 minutes.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Scores 11 points off bench
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Lee supplied 11 points (4-9 FG, 2-6 3Pt, 1-2 FT), two rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal across 19 minutes during Monday's 114-106 win over the Raptors.
Lee came off the bench and scored in double figures for the second time over his last four games and 17th time this season. The veteran guard is having a solid start to his first season in Phoenix and will likely continue garnering a solid role off the bench while Devin Booker (groin), Cameron Payne (foot) and Landry Shamet (foot) all remain out.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Back to bench
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Lee will move back to the bench for Sunday's game against Memphis.
With Chris Paul (hip) back in action, Lee will cede his spot in the lineup after a pair of spot starts. The Louisville product averaged 17.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.5 threes over his last six games, and while his role will likely decline with Paul back, Lee should still be in line for a decent workload on a nightly basis.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Will start Thursday
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Lee will start Thursday against the Nets.
Lee will make his third start with the Suns on Thursday, replacing Landry Shamet (foot) in the starting lineup. The veteran guard has played exceptionally well in his last four games, averaging 18.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 28.5 minutes of action.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Blows up for season-high 31 points
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Lee finished with 31 points (10-17 FG, 6-7 3Pt, 5-5 FT), six rebounds and two assists across 31 minutes during Friday's 121-116 loss to the Timberwolves.
Thanks in large part to some red-hot shooting from three-point range, Lee cruised to a new season-high scoring total. The Suns are running thin at the moment, affording significant playing time to reserve players Lee. He has now scored at least 20 points in two of his past three games, making him a viable streaming option, at least until the team starts getting its main rotation players back on the floor.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Scores 22 points off bench
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Lee had 22 points (3-8 FG, 2-5 3Pt, 14-14 FT), seven rebounds and four assists across 31 minutes during Tuesday's 125-113 win over Golden State.
Lee received his ring for winning last year's NBA Finals with the Warriors before the matchup and proceeded to play like a champion during the contest. The backup guard was aggressive early and often and was awarded with 14 trips to the free-throw line, which he took full advantage of. Lee's 22 points were a season high and marked his first 20-plus-point game of the campaign. He figures to continue seeing an increased role as long as Chris Paul (hip), Cameron Payne (foot), Devin Booker (groin) and Landry Shamet (hip) are all out, but Lee's prolific production from Tuesday is likely unsustainable.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Scores season-high 18 points
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Lee finished with 18 points (5-8 FG, 4-5 3Pt, 4-4 FT) and eight rebounds across 30 minutes during Sunday's 128-125 overtime loss to the Nuggets.
Lee came off the bench, but he quickly saw an increased role with Devin Booker aggravating his groin injury just four minutes into Sunday's contest. The undrafted guard out of Louisville finished with season highs in points and rebounds while playing his most minutes since the second game of the campaign. With Booker dealing with his injury, Lee's scored at least 10 points in three of his past four appearances and has averaged 11.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 27.0 minutes during that stretch.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Moves to bench
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Lee will operate off the bench Friday against the Grizzlies.
Lee has started back-to-back games with Devin Booker (groin) sidelined, but he'll head to the bench Friday in favor of Landry Shamet, who scored a season-high 31 points his last time out. Across 30 games as a reserve, Lee has averaged 8.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 21.0 minutes.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Gets chance with first unit
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Lee is starting Monday's game against the Lakers, Ryan Ward of LakersNation.com reports.
Lee will start in place of Devin Booker, who will miss Monday's contest due to a groin issue. This marks Lee's first start of the 2022-23 campaign.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Adds 13 off bench
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Lee supplied 13 points (5-9 FG, 1-3 3Pt, 2-2 FT), five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 23 minutes during Monday's 130-111 loss to the Mavericks.
Lee knocked down 55.6 percent of his field goals and made a difference for his team across the board. He's also secured five rebounds in four straight matchups. Lee continues to show that he's a valuable bench piece for this team, averaging 8.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists over 24 matchups.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Ties season high with 15 points
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Lee finished Monday's 122-117 victory over the Kings with 15 points (6-11 FG, 3-7 3Pt), five rebounds and one assist in 25 minutes.
Lee came into the contest having failed to reach double-digit scoring in three straight contests, but he put an end to that streak with an efficient 15-point performance. As usual, the Louisville product did much of his work from beyond the arc, and he's now converted at least one triple in 13 straight games. Lee is actually shooting better from three-point range (48.8 percent) than from the field overall (44.9 percent) this season.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Nails four triples in loss
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Lee produced 14 points (5-9 FG, 4-7 3Pt), three rebounds, one assist and one steal across 22 minutes during Monday's 113-112 loss to the Heat.
Lee saw 22 minutes off the bench Monday, continuing what has been a noticeable uptick in playing time over the past week. He has logged in excess of 20 minutes in five of the past six games, filling some of the void left by an injury to Cameron Johnson (knee). While his overall production is limited, Lee can have some value in deeper formats for anyone in need of perimeter scoring.
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Suns' Damion Lee: Role shrinks in win
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Lee contributed two points (1-3 FG, 0-2 3Pt), one rebound and one assist in 12 minutes during Sunday's 112-95 win over the Clippers.
Lee sunk a game-winning jumper to lead Phoenix over Dallas on Friday, logging 31 minutes and closing the contest in place of Chris Paul. With that recent context in mind, Lee shrinking to such a small role Sunday is indicative of serious volatility. He'll next take the court Tuesday versus the Warriors.
