Suns Utilize New Starting Lineup vs Clippers

Tonight is the night that the Phoenix Suns will look to turn the last two weeks of positive momentum into tangible results as they take on the Los Angeles Clippers at Footprint Center.

The Clippers recently returned Kawhi Leonard to the lineup, who has missed the first two-plus months of the season prior to his debut in early January.

Unfortunately for the Suns, they will not be going into this game at full strength - a key injury early on in Saturday's game was going to force head coach Mike Budenholzer to change up the starting lineup - the expected change did come to fruition.

The starting unit to begin tonight's duel:

• Tyus Jones

• Devin Booker

• Royce O'Neale

• Kevin Durant

• Nick Richards

Jones is coming off of one of his best performances of 2025 to the tune of 16 points and 5 assists on Saturday night against his former squad in the Washington Wizards. The starting floor general will now be handed a significantly steeper challenge with James Harden and Norman Powell being key fixtures in the Clippers' rotation.

Booker is coming off of a rough shooting night, but will look to finish the month out in strong fashion after scoring 40 points in the last meeting between Phoenix and L.A. on October 31.

O'Neale will be receiving the start in place of Ryan Dunn, who will miss tonight's contest with an ankle sprain. O'Neale will look to get back into a rhythm after having a rough month to this point - read more about that here.

Durant has shot 9-15 on three-point attempts over the past two games - can that carry into tonight?

Richards has put forward two high-level performances as a member of the Suns, but he will be handed an extraordinarily difficult matchup in Ivica Zubac, who has broken out as one of the better centers in the Western Conference in 2024-25.

Suns-Clippers is set to tip-off shortly after 7:30 PM Arizona time tonight.