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Nov 23, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) looks for the play against the Utah Jazz during the second half at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Lakers Reveal LeBron James' Status vs Suns

Originally posted on Phoenix Suns on SI | By Brendan Mau | Last updated Dec 1, 2025 4:05 PM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers have a pretty clean injury report for tonight's matchup against the Phoenix Suns with only Marcus Smart sidelined with lower back injury management.

LeBron James will be available for Los Angeles after being out for the first night of a back-to-back, a 133-121 Lakers win over the New Orleans Pelicans Sunday, with left foot injury management.

“It is an injury he’s had in the past, it’s something that we’ve had to manage in the past,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said of James. “Given the back-to-back and the fact that he’s basically just coming off his training camp, this has been his training camp the last 10 days or so, so just being cautious.”

James has only played in four games this season after missing the first 14 games of the year due to sciatica, averaging 16.5 points, 8.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds in those contests.

Lakers center and former Suns No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, who bumped knees in the fourth quarter with New Orleans rookie Derik Queen last night and was subbed out after, was not on the injury report.

"It cooled down after the game, so I'm good now ... it wasn't anything crazy," said Ayton, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds against the Pelicans, postgame.

Deandre Ayton (knee) postgame:

"It cooled down after the game, so I'm good now... it wasn't anything crazy." https://t.co/mBDu9oBrpq
— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) December 1, 2025

As for the Suns, they also released good news with their injury report yesterday, as only Jalen Green (right hamstring strain) and Isaiah Livers (right hip strain) are out, while Ryan Dunn (right wrist sprain) has been upgraded to probable after missing the last five games with his injury. You can read more about Phoenix's injury report by clicking here.

Lakers On Hot Streak Entering Matchup vs Suns

Los Angeles heads into tonight's game on a seven-game win streak and with the second-best record in the West at 15-4.

Luka Doncic leads the NBA in scoring at 35.1 points per game to go along with 9.2 assists, 8.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals, while Austin Reaves is having a career year averaging 28.8 points, 6.8 assists and 5.8 rebounds.

Doncic and Reaves became only the third duo this century to each score 30 or more points in three-straight games after Doncic had 34 points against New Orleans and Reaves posted 33 points.

The Lakers backcourt showed out for their 7th straight win

Luka: 34 PTS | 12 REB | 7 AST | 4 3PM
Reaves: 33 PTS | 5 REB | 8 AST | 4 3PM

The 3rd game in a row with both Luka and Reaves scoring 30+ pic.twitter.com/Ee0RH3ESUp
— NBA (@NBA) December 1, 2025

The Lakers lead the NBA with a 51.3% team field goal percentage so far this season, so the Suns (12-9) will be put up to the task defensively especially after allowing the Denver Nuggets to shoot 57.9% both from the floor and from 3 in their 130-112 loss Saturday, which marked their third loss in four games.

One area the Suns can look to get going is forcing turnovers and getting transition buckets on the other end, as the Lakers average 15.9 turnovers per game and Phoenix leads the NBA with 10.6 steals per game.

"We've got an incredible challenge tomorrow with Phoenix," Redick said of the Suns Sunday. "Those guys are playing great basketball. They're coming off a couple of losses to two of the best teams in the NBA (Oklahoma City and Denver). They play hard. They have an identity. That's going to be a huge challenge."

Tonight's game tips off at 8:00 p.m. MST and will be televised on Peacock.