The Phoenix Suns have put together a nice little preseason run so far, that included an entertaining couple of games against the Brooklyn Nets in China. They split that particular series, but the results were hardly what mattered out there. Instead it was building on a culture that has clearly laid its foundations in The Valley, while some role players proved they still belong in the rotation.
The Suns are now back on home soil ahead of a final tune up versus the Los Angeles Lakers, who they beat before heading off to Macau. That was a game in which former first overall pick Deandre Ayton scored a single point, somehow allowing current Suns' rookie center Khaman Maluach to have two made baskets on the night. This despite having a long way to go on the offensive end.
Lakers will welcome back Luka Doncic versus Suns.
With the game between the Lakers and Suns taking place in Phoenix, it has been announced that superstar Luka Doncic will make his preseason bow for Los Angeles. This comes after an offseason in which he was the focus of media attention for how much weight he appeared to lose, before going on to star at EuroBasket.
Damn man Nico Harrison really created a monster. Luka Doncic went from fat to the cover of Men’s Health magazine 😭 pic.twitter.com/aNDkuPa4nn
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) July 28, 2025
With LeBron James going to miss the first 10-12 games of the new campaign with a sciatica issue, this is the ideal final preparation game for the Suns. You can't ever stop Doncic - especially if his conditioning is the best it has ever been - but trying to slow him down will test just how far along head coach Jordan Ott's defensive schemes are in The Valley.
New addition Dillon Brooks has been locked-in for the preseason games to this point - a welcome change on the last few seasons - so he will need no extra motivation to go after Doncic as well. The rivalry between the Lakers and Suns has unfortunately been rather one-sided this century, and that isn't going to change this season.
But if any one player is going to buy into how much it means to get one over on the purple and gold, it is surely Brooks. Then there is Devin Booker, who has had his own war of words with Doncic in the past going back to his time as a Dallas Maverick. Booker is being slept on in a big way by those around the league, and outplaying Doncic sure would be a nice way to roll into the season
Yes this is only preseason - but any time Doncic and the Lakers come to town - there is extra interest. As has been the case throughout these games, the result doesn't matter. But given how promising areas of the Suns' game have looked in what we've seen so far, it would be nice to continue that trajectory against Doncic in his first action of the season.