Lakers Game Preview: Game 28 @ Suns

December 23, 2025 at 8:14 am

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

The banged-up Los Angeles Lakers face a very familiar foe tonight. This matchup against the Phoenix Suns is their final stop before the Christmas Day showdown with the Houston Rockets, and it comes with plenty of built-in context. It’s the third meeting between these two teams in December alone. Two evenly matched teams. Two teams that know each other well by now. And two teams that, at this point, clearly don’t like each other.

The last game added another chapter to Dillon Brooks trying to poke the bear. He went at LeBron James all night, only to get ejected after a clutch three when he couldn’t resist getting in LeBron’s face. Moments later, LeBron drew a foul on a last-second three, flipping the game once again.

So, another physical, competitive game is to be expected, with the Lakers trying to avoid a loss and remain in an elite group alongside the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets as the only teams in the NBA that haven’t lost back-to-back games.

That won’t be easy. The Lakers will be without at least two starters. NBA-leading scorer Luka Dončić will sit out with a left lower-leg contusion, and Rui Hachimura remains out due to right groin soreness. The status of the third starter, Austin Reaves, is more encouraging. After missing the last three games with a left calf strain, he was a partial participant in practice and has been upgraded to questionable.

digginbasketball is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Lakers (19-8) @ Suns (15-13) game facts
Rest: LAL on 2 days of rest; PHX on 2 days of rest

Ranking: LAL 14th in Point Diff (+1.5), PHX 16th in Point Diff (+1.1)

LAL vs PHX 2025-26 record: tied at 1-1 (see Game 20 observations here, Game 25 observations here)

LAL injuries: Luka Dončić (OUT), Rui Hachimura (OUT), Gabe Vincent (OUT), Austin Reaves (questionable)

PHX injuries: Jalen Green (OUT), Grayson Allen (doubtful)

LAL projected starting five: Austin Reaves (G), Marcus Smart (G), Jake LaRavia (F), LeBron James (F), Deandre Ayton (C)

LAL key reserves: Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, Maxi Kleber, Dalton Knecht, Nick Smith Jr., Adou Thiero

PHX projected starting five: Devin Booker (G), Collin Gillespie (G), Dillon Brooks (F), Royce O’Neal (F), Mark Williams (C)

PHX key reserves: Jordan Goodwin, Ryan Dunn, Oso Ighodaro, Jamaree Bouyea

PHX rotation:

Learnings from the first two matchups: whoever sets the tone with hustle wins
If we learned anything from the first two games, it’s that this matchup turns into physical, ugly basketball. There are mistakes on both sides. The team that wins the hustle battle, the one that gets to more 50-50 balls, wins the game.

In the first matchup, the Phoenix Suns were the aggressor. They jumped on the Los Angeles Lakers, got their hands on 16 steals, forced 22 turnovers, and repeatedly punished the Lakers in transition.

The rematch marked the first game in which JJ Redick shifted his rotations toward banshees and hustle, reintroducing Jarred Vanderbilt into the lineup with a major payoff. The Lakers decisively won the hustle battle, dominating the smaller Suns on the offensive glass and posting their highest offensive rebound rate in the last 15 years.

Lakers on offense | Suns on defense

The 2025–26 Phoenix Suns have clearly taken on the identity of Dillon Brooks, becoming a scrappy, in-your-face, aggressive defensive team. They mostly play smaller lineups with four perimeter players who can apply pressure.

Ryan Dunn, Jordan Goodwin, and Royce O’Neale are all physical defenders. If they cannot get a deflection or a steal, the goal is to funnel the ball handler toward the paint, where Mark Williams, supposedly the player with the longest standing reach in the NBA, is waiting. The Suns’ aggressive style shows up in the data. They rank second in the NBA, behind only the Thunder, in opponent turnover rate, and sit 24th in opponent free-throw rate. The Lakers have struggled against the Suns’ pressure in both games. Their second- and third-worst turnover rate performances of the season have come against Phoenix.

Lakers: top five games in turnover rate (source: Cleaning the Glass)
Without Dončić, a potential return from Reaves would be a huge boost. It would allow James to stay in the secondary ball-handler and creator role he has thrived in over the last six games, during which he is averaging 27.6 points per game. James struggled against the Suns aggression in the last matchup, committing eight turnovers, five of them coming in the first quarter.

Apart from occasional excessive fouling, the biggest defensive flaw for the Suns is rebounding. Their smaller lineups can be punished on the offensive glass, something the Lakers exploited in the first matchup and a clear priority for Redick since the recent rotation shift.

Suns on offense | Lakers on defense

The Suns are a perimeter-oriented team with several good shooters. Devin Booker, Collin Gillespie, Royce O’Neale, and Grayson Allen all stretch the floor, though Allen is listed as doubtful. Dillon Brooks is more streaky but a willing shooter. In their loss, the Lakers struggled to defend pick actions and off-ball screens against the Suns’ “lasers,” JJ Redick’s term for sharpshooters. That was especially true for Gillespie, who erupted for a career-high 28 points.

While the Suns force a lot of turnovers, they are not strong at controlling the ball themselves, ranking just 24th in turnover rate. Outside of Booker, they lack a true on-ball creator, and even Booker is better suited as a scoring and finishing guard than as a primary playmaker. They try to fill the playmaking void with Gillespie, Brooks, and O’Neale, but all three can be pressed and forced into bad decisions.

Player spotlight: LeBron James
Even if Reaves is good to go, a lot will again be asked of James, who is coming off his season-high scoring performance of 36 points in the last game against the Clippers.

Without Dončić, the James versus Brooks matchup should be even more frequent, with Brooks likely drawing the primary defensive assignment against his longtime nemesis. Excessive aggression and fouling have long been issues for Brooks. James staying patient and using Brooks’ eagerness to redeem himself after the ejection in their last matchup could be key.

Deandre Ayton finding an extra gear against his former team could also tilt the game in the Los Angeles Lakers’ favor. Williams was the more impactful big in the first matchup, while Ayton outplayed the center the Lakers had targeted to fill the spot in the middle before him in the rematch. Ayton he will need to be careful against Williams, especially in transition. In the first two matchups, Suns big men consistently sprinted the floor, punishing even the slightest lapse with aggressive rim runs.

Final thoughts
If Reaves is not ready to return yet, this one will be tough to pull off. The Suns are the better shooting team, and without Dončić, Hachimura, and potentially Reaves, the Lakers could struggle to match the Suns’ threes with paint points and free throws, which has been their primary way of compensating for the math disadvantage this season.

However, the Lakers have surprised us this season by winning several games while severely undermanned, and if nothing else, this should be another chippy and entertaining matchup.

Comments

LakerTom says

December 23, 2025 at 8:14 am

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

The banged-up Los Angeles Lakers face a very familiar foe tonight. This matchup against the Phoenix Suns is their final stop before the Christmas Day showdown with the Houston Rockets, and it comes with plenty of built-in context. It’s the third meeting between these two teams in December alone. Two evenly matched teams. Two teams that know each other well by now. And two teams that, at this point, clearly don’t like each other.

The last game added another chapter to Dillon Brooks trying to poke the bear. He went at LeBron James all night, only to get ejected after a clutch three when he couldn’t resist getting in LeBron’s face. Moments later, LeBron drew a foul on a last-second three, flipping the game once again.

So, another physical, competitive game is to be expected, with the Lakers trying to avoid a loss and remain in an elite group alongside the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets as the only teams in the NBA that haven’t lost back-to-back games.

That won’t be easy. The Lakers will be without at least two starters. NBA-leading scorer Luka Dončić will sit out with a left lower-leg contusion, and Rui Hachimura remains out due to right groin soreness. The status of the third starter, Austin Reaves, is more encouraging. After missing the last three games with a left calf strain, he was a partial participant in practice and has been upgraded to questionable.

digginbasketball is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Lakers (19-8) @ Suns (15-13) game facts
Rest: LAL on 2 days of rest; PHX on 2 days of rest

Ranking: LAL 14th in Point Diff (+1.5), PHX 16th in Point Diff (+1.1)

LAL vs PHX 2025-26 record: tied at 1-1 (see Game 20 observations here, Game 25 observations here)

LAL injuries: Luka Dončić (OUT), Rui Hachimura (OUT), Gabe Vincent (OUT), Austin Reaves (questionable)

PHX injuries: Jalen Green (OUT), Grayson Allen (doubtful)

LAL projected starting five: Austin Reaves (G), Marcus Smart (G), Jake LaRavia (F), LeBron James (F), Deandre Ayton (C)

LAL key reserves: Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, Maxi Kleber, Dalton Knecht, Nick Smith Jr., Adou Thiero

PHX projected starting five: Devin Booker (G), Collin Gillespie (G), Dillon Brooks (F), Royce O’Neal (F), Mark Williams (C)

PHX key reserves: Jordan Goodwin, Ryan Dunn, Oso Ighodaro, Jamaree Bouyea

PHX rotation:

Learnings from the first two matchups: whoever sets the tone with hustle wins
If we learned anything from the first two games, it’s that this matchup turns into physical, ugly basketball. There are mistakes on both sides. The team that wins the hustle battle, the one that gets to more 50-50 balls, wins the game.

In the first matchup, the Phoenix Suns were the aggressor. They jumped on the Los Angeles Lakers, got their hands on 16 steals, forced 22 turnovers, and repeatedly punished the Lakers in transition.

The rematch marked the first game in which JJ Redick shifted his rotations toward banshees and hustle, reintroducing Jarred Vanderbilt into the lineup with a major payoff. The Lakers decisively won the hustle battle, dominating the smaller Suns on the offensive glass and posting their highest offensive rebound rate in the last 15 years.

Lakers on offense | Suns on defense

The 2025–26 Phoenix Suns have clearly taken on the identity of Dillon Brooks, becoming a scrappy, in-your-face, aggressive defensive team. They mostly play smaller lineups with four perimeter players who can apply pressure.

Ryan Dunn, Jordan Goodwin, and Royce O’Neale are all physical defenders. If they cannot get a deflection or a steal, the goal is to funnel the ball handler toward the paint, where Mark Williams, supposedly the player with the longest standing reach in the NBA, is waiting. The Suns’ aggressive style shows up in the data. They rank second in the NBA, behind only the Thunder, in opponent turnover rate, and sit 24th in opponent free-throw rate. The Lakers have struggled against the Suns’ pressure in both games. Their second- and third-worst turnover rate performances of the season have come against Phoenix.

Lakers: top five games in turnover rate (source: Cleaning the Glass)
Without Dončić, a potential return from Reaves would be a huge boost. It would allow James to stay in the secondary ball-handler and creator role he has thrived in over the last six games, during which he is averaging 27.6 points per game. James struggled against the Suns aggression in the last matchup, committing eight turnovers, five of them coming in the first quarter.

Apart from occasional excessive fouling, the biggest defensive flaw for the Suns is rebounding. Their smaller lineups can be punished on the offensive glass, something the Lakers exploited in the first matchup and a clear priority for Redick since the recent rotation shift.

Suns on offense | Lakers on defense

The Suns are a perimeter-oriented team with several good shooters. Devin Booker, Collin Gillespie, Royce O’Neale, and Grayson Allen all stretch the floor, though Allen is listed as doubtful. Dillon Brooks is more streaky but a willing shooter. In their loss, the Lakers struggled to defend pick actions and off-ball screens against the Suns’ “lasers,” JJ Redick’s term for sharpshooters. That was especially true for Gillespie, who erupted for a career-high 28 points.

While the Suns force a lot of turnovers, they are not strong at controlling the ball themselves, ranking just 24th in turnover rate. Outside of Booker, they lack a true on-ball creator, and even Booker is better suited as a scoring and finishing guard than as a primary playmaker. They try to fill the playmaking void with Gillespie, Brooks, and O’Neale, but all three can be pressed and forced into bad decisions.

Player spotlight: LeBron James
Even if Reaves is good to go, a lot will again be asked of James, who is coming off his season-high scoring performance of 36 points in the last game against the Clippers.

Without Dončić, the James versus Brooks matchup should be even more frequent, with Brooks likely drawing the primary defensive assignment against his longtime nemesis. Excessive aggression and fouling have long been issues for Brooks. James staying patient and using Brooks’ eagerness to redeem himself after the ejection in their last matchup could be key.

Deandre Ayton finding an extra gear against his former team could also tilt the game in the Los Angeles Lakers’ favor. Williams was the more impactful big in the first matchup, while Ayton outplayed the center the Lakers had targeted to fill the spot in the middle before him in the rematch. Ayton he will need to be careful against Williams, especially in transition. In the first two matchups, Suns big men consistently sprinted the floor, punishing even the slightest lapse with aggressive rim runs.

Final thoughts
If Reaves is not ready to return yet, this one will be tough to pull off. The Suns are the better shooting team, and without Dončić, Hachimura, and potentially Reaves, the Lakers could struggle to match the Suns’ threes with paint points and free throws, which has been their primary way of compensating for the math disadvantage this season.

However, the Lakers have surprised us this season by winning several games while severely undermanned, and if nothing else, this should be another chippy and entertaining matchup.

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