INGELWOOD — The Phoenix Suns begin a three-game road trip Friday, Oct. 24, against the Los Angeles Clippers at Intuit Dome, at 7:30 p.m. MST.
The game will air on Arizona’s Family (3TV) and Arizona’s Family Sports.
The Suns won their season opener in comeback fashion, 120-116, over the Sacramento Kings, while the Clippers dropped their opener on the road to the Utah Jazz, 129-108, Oct. 22. Phoenix trailed by 20 points in the second quarter before rallying back in delivering Jordan Ott his first career win as an NBA head coach. Devin Booker scored a game-high 31 points and Dillon Brooks posted 22 to lead the Suns (1-0).
As for the Clippers (0-1), they were down 43-19 at the end of the first quarter to a team that’s predicted to finish last in the Western Conference after having the NBA’s worst record last season at 17-65. Former Suns guard Bradley Beal managed just five points on 2-of-5 shooting in 20 minutes. The Suns bought out Beal after two seasons, with the latter one ending in 36 wins.
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Booker facing former Suns early in season
It was Drew Eubanks and Dario Saric in Phoenix’s season opener versus the Kings.
Now Devin Booker will play against two more former Suns teammates in Clippers guards Bradley Beal and Chris Paul in tonight’s game.
“Something I’m looking forward to,” Booker said after the morning shootaround.
Eubanks and Booker were teammates for one season in 2023-24. Saric joined the Suns during a draft-day trade in 2019 and was part of their highly successful two-year run (2020-22).
The crazy part about this latest matchup againat former Suns is Phoenix traded Paul in the 2023 offseason in landing Beal from the Washington Wizards.
Paul was the catalyst for Phoenix’s run to the 2021 finals and played a major role in the Suns winning a franchise-record 64 games in 2021-22, but he was traded after the 2022-23 season that ended in losing to the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs.
The Suns teamed Beal with Kevin Durant and Booker to form a Big 3, but they never met championship expectations. Minnesota eliminated Phoenix in the first round of the 2024 playoffs.
The Suns failed to even reach the play-in last season, going 36-46 to mark the first time they suffered a losing season since 2019-20, which was the last time they missed the playoffs. Phoenix traded Durant to Houston and bought out Beal.
Booker will see two more former teammates on the road trip that continues on Saturday, Oct. 25, at Denver and ends Monday, Oct. 27, at Utah. Cam Johnson is in his first season with the Nuggets as he was on the Suns’ 2021 finals team. Phoenix traded Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, four first-round picks and Johnson to Brooklyn in landing Durant before the 2023 trade deadline.
Jazz big Jusuf Nurkic was part of two seasons in Phoenix. The 7-footer was part of a three-team trade before the 2023-24 season when Damian Lillard went from Portland to Milwaukee.
The Suns moved Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara to Portland and got Nurkic from the Blazers and Grayson Allen from Milwaukee. Phoenix ended up trading Nurkic and a first-round pick to Charlotte before the 2025 trade deadline for Vasa Micic, Cody Martin and a second-round selection.
Martin and Micic are no longer with the Suns.
Green out, will likely sit for entire road trip
The Suns will be without Jalen Green, who missed the opener with a right hamstring strain. Green didn’t play in the preseason and isn’t expected to play in the Saturday, Oct. 25, game at Denver in the second of a back-to-back. He isn’t ruled out for the Monday, Oct. 27, game against the Jazz to end the road trip, but considering the lack of practice time, the odds appear to be against him playing in that game.
Green made the road trip as he was the team’s morning shootaround. He did some resistance training in the open area right outside the court during the latter part of the shootaround.
Being put through a series of different distances running at different paces, Green looked smooth in his runs and didn’t have any hiccups. He then did some on-court work that consisted of putting up shots and playing defense with coaches.
The new Suns guard didn’t miss a game in his last two seasons with the Houston Rockets. The Suns acquired Brooks, Green and the 10th overall pick in the 2025 draft, 7-footer Khaman Maluach, from the Rockets in the Kevin Durant trade.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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