Los Angeles Lakers vs Phoenix Suns Picks and Prediction: Booker-less Suns Face Luka's Lakers in West Battleground
In a stacked Thursday NBA slate the Lakers visit the Suns tonight with the Lakers on thin ice. Expect a lower scoring game and back Under 217.5.
OC Staff - February 26, 2026, 7:30 PM EST
3 Minute ReadLos Angeles Lakers vs Phoenix Suns Picks and Prediction: Booker-less Suns Face Luka's Lakers in West Battleground
Lakers vs Suns Recent Performance
The Lakers are skating on thin ice. At 34-23 and sitting sixth in the Western Conference, Los Angeles has dropped back-to-back games, including a gut-wrenching 110-109 loss to Orlando on Tuesday where a botched inbounds play in the final seconds handed the Magic a gift. Before that, the Celtics hit them for 111-89 on Sunday. Two losses, 50 combined points surrendered in the fourth quarters, and suddenly a team with Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves is looking shaky heading into the desert.
Phoenix is in worse shape. The Suns posted 77 and 81 points in their last two games, both losses, against Portland and Boston respectively. Those aren't scores, those are hostage situations. Coach Jordan Ott's group is 3-7 in their last ten, and they've now dropped to seventh in the West, two games behind the Lakers with a 33-26 record. The possession game Ott preaches has evaporated without Booker orchestrating it, and Phoenix has been running at a funeral pace, dead last in the NBA over the last five games at just 91.87 possessions per game. Slow-paced, undermanned, and staring down a motivated Lakers squad.
Lakers vs Suns Head to Head
The Suns have actually gotten the better of this season series. Phoenix leads 2-1 overall and holds a 2-1 ATS edge against Los Angeles this year, a stat worth noting given the Lakers' struggles to cover large spreads. The total has gone Under in seven of the last ten meetings between these Pacific Division rivals, which matters when you're looking at a game that already has all the ingredients for a grinder: slow pace, injury-depleted offense, and two teams trying to play their way out of a funk.
This is the fourth matchup of the 2025-26 season, and the Suns' backcourt situation looks nothing like what it did in those first three games. Booker was healthy and bending defenses then. Now the Lakers get a version of Phoenix that is missing its best player and its enforcer, which changes every calculation.
Los Angeles Lakers vs Phoenix Suns Date, Time, and Where to Watch
- Date: Thursday, February 26, 2026
- Time: 9:00 PM ET
- How to Watch: Spectrum SportsNet LA, AZFamily, NBA League Pass
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Lakers vs Suns Odds
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Lakers vs Suns Team News
Phoenix is missing five players, and these aren't bench warmers. Devin Booker is out for a fourth straight game with a right hip strain, he averages 24.7 points and 6.1 assists, and his re-evaluation is set for sometime next week, with a March 3 road game against Sacramento looking like the realistic return target. Dillon Brooks is out 4-6 weeks with a left hand fracture, costing the Suns their edge defender and the guy whose LeBron mind games everyone loved. Jordan Goodwin (left calf strain, 1-2 weeks), Haywood Highsmith (right knee, not yet played this season), and Cole Anthony (not with team) round out the damage. Without Booker's pull-up threat and Brooks' physicality, Collin Gillespie and Jalen Green are carrying the offensive load. Gillespie is averaging 13.4 points on the season, and Green has been inconsistent as a secondary creator all year. Neither one is going to scare a healthy defense.
The Lakers' injury picture is cleaner by comparison, but not spotless. Jaxson Hayes is probable after missing Tuesday's loss with a right ankle sprain, JJ Redick called him the best vertical lob threat on the team, and getting him back matters for the Ayton pick-and-roll game. Rui Hachimura is the concern: the forward is listed as questionable with an illness after logging 28 minutes and 10 points against Orlando. Hachimura is shooting 44% from three on 4.1 attempts this season, and his floor spacing is a real asset in a lineup that needs perimeter width. If he sits, LaRavia and Vanderbilt absorb the minutes. Bronny James and Adou Thiero are on G League assignment and not part of the equation.
Prediction: Lakers 111, Suns 103
Los Angeles wins and the total stays under the line. Luka doesn't need much of a nudge to take over, he's averaging 32.5 points, 8.6 assists, and 7.8 rebounds on the season, and a motivated Doncic against a roster missing its two best defenders is a problem Phoenix has no answer for. LeBron at 21.7 a night and Reaves at 25 give the Lakers three legitimate scoring options, and none of them will see a Booker double-team that collapses their spacing. The Suns fight on the glass, they've been the best offensive rebounding team in the NBA these last five games, and Grayson Allen's 17.2 points off the bench gives Phoenix real shooting. This won't be a bloodbath. But the dead-last pace Phoenix sets combined with both teams' recent offensive struggles keeps this score in the low hundreds, comfortably under the 217.5 line.
Best Bet: Under 217.5 (+148) Click here to get the best odds at FanDuel Sportsbook
The Under doesn't need anything dramatic to hit, just both teams continuing to play like themselves. Phoenix has not broken 85 in two consecutive games and runs the slowest tempo in the league right now. The Lakers are 19th in offensive efficiency over their last five contests at 111 points per 100 possessions, down from their season-long average. Plug those numbers into a game where Phoenix controls pace at 91-92 possessions, factor in the total going Under in seven of the last ten head-to-head matchups, and 217.5 starts looking generous. A projected final of 111-103 lands at 214 combined points, comfortably inside the number. Take the Under.
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