Suns Fall to Kings in Season Finale

The Phoenix Suns (36-46) concluded their 2024-25 season with a 109-98 loss to the Sacramento Kings (40-42) Sunday afternoon.

Phoenix, who was eliminated from playoff contention late last week, was without four starters in Devin Booker (right calf soreness), Bradley Beal (rest), Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) and Nick Richards (right elbow inflammation).

With all of these players out, Phoenix used its 35th different starting lineup of the year: Tyus Jones, Collin Gillespie, Grayson Allen, Ryan Dunn and Mason Plumlee.

Unlike the Suns, the Kings wanted a win as they entered the game trying to keep a better play-in spot. The Kings were tied with the Dallas Mavericks for the ninth seed and owned the tiebreaker over them.

Dallas ended up getting blown out during its game which started at the same time, so this game ended up not making a difference for Sacramento in terms of seeding even with the win.

Allen (20 points, 5 assists), Jones (17 points, 4 assists), Dunn (12 points, 9 rebounds), Gillespie (12 points) and Oso Ighodaro (10 points) were all in double figures for Phoenix.

Jonas Valanciunas led the Kings with 22 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, while Domantas Sabonis had a 20-points, 12-rebound double-double and Zach LaVine contributed 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting,

Quick Recap

The Kings jumped out to an early 18-9 lead with all 18 points coming from LaVine and Sabonis. Phoenix quickly got back into it with a 9-3 run to respond to this hot start. Sacramento finished the first quarter shooting 13-for-21 (61.9%) to take a 33-25 lead. Valanciunas had 10 points off the bench for the Kings, while Jones and Allen led the Suns with six points apiece.

Sacramento went ahead by as many as 12 in the second, but the Suns' 3-point shooting kept them in it. At halftime, the Suns had cut the Kings lead to 57-54 behind 9-of-24 3-point shooting as a team. Jones (11 points and 3 assists) and Allen (10 points) were in double figures for the Suns, while Sabonis had a game-high 17 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists for the Kings.

The Kings built their lead to double digits again in the third quarter before Phoenix fought back to cut into it. However, Sacramento was able to build it back to an 86-75 advantage going into the fourth behind 20 points, 12 rebounds and six assists from Sabonis.

With the Mavs losing, the Kings emptied their bench to start the fourth quarter. The Suns were still unable to come back to even make it close and Sacramento came out on top with the 11-point victory.

The Suns now enter the offseason that is going to bring about a lot of changes after how this season played out.