The Phoenix Suns meet the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night for already the third time this season, and Phoenix is hopeful both Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant will return for that game.

Brad has missed Phoenix’s last five games and Durant their last seven with the same injury, a left calf strain. But both players participated in practice on Sunday giving Mike Budenholzer confidence that his team might be back at full strength come Tuesday.

“They both looked great, did everything in practice today. Quite a bit of scrimmaging. Those two guys are great players. It’s great to have them out there playing, competing. They brought an energy. They brought a pop. It was really good,” Budenholzer said. “Good day for those two. We’ll wait and see how they respond.

Phoenix is 0-5 in Brad’s absence and 1-6 since Durant went down. They’ve fallen from the top of the Western Conference to eighth, but there is still plenty of basketball to play. The most important thing will be getting Brad and KD up to speed conditioning-wise and not pushing them too hard too fast with a long season still in front of them.

“For me, it’s usually just the wind, the speed and the tempo. When you haven’t been doing conditioning or being able to run and get up and down, sometimes it takes you a little bit to get your lungs back, but other than that, it’s muscle memory. It’s getting back to what you’ve always done and it’s just reps,” teammate Tyus Jones said. “Good couple of days to kind of regroup, reset and getting back to it now. And having Brad and KD back is obviously huge for us. They looked good.”

The return of Beal and Durant will give the Suns an offensive boost.

“Just having them back, being able to close games and put that scoring back on the board,” guard Monte Morris said. “We’re a better team, obviously when they’re healthy.”

But it might be even more important on the other end of the court.

Before his injury, Brad had taken on a versatile role for the thriving Suns. He was third on the team in scoring behind Durant and Devin Booker, but was playing as well as he ever has on the defensive end, helping Phoenix to one of the best defensive ratings in the league. Since he went down they’ve been giving up 118.6 points per game, including a season-high 138 against the Knicks last Thursday.

“Brad has been taking on the toughest matchup a lot of nights,” Budenholzer said. “Kevin’s length and rebounding and shot-blocking. Everybody thinks about the offensive boost, but I think there is a defensive boost that we get with those two guys. Hopefully, they’ll be in a good place tomorrow and get ready to go on Tuesday.”