LOS ANGELES – Despite losing top scorer Devin Booker to injury, the Phoenix Suns registered a 125-108 road victory on Dec 1 that ended the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak.

Dillon Brooks starred with a game-high 33 points, while Collin Gillespie scored 28 points and Mark Williams and Jordan Goodwin each added 13 points as the Suns stopped a two-game skid by winning the opener of a four-game road trip. Royce O’Neale had 11 assists for Phoenix.

Booker scored 11 points in 10 minutes of the first quarter before he departed with a groin injury. He watched the second half from the bench.

Before leaving the game, Booker became the third-youngest NBA player with 17,000 points and 3,600 assists at 29 years, 32 days. LeBron James and Oscar Robertson were younger.

Luka Doncic scored 38 points with 11 rebounds while Austin Reaves added 16 points for the Lakers, who lost for just the third time since Oct 29 and fell on the second night of a home back-to-back.

After missing their game on Nov 30 with a sore foot, James returned to score 10 points, extending his run of double-digit scoring games to 1,297.

Deandre Ayton, who was the first overall draft pick by the Suns in 2018, scored 12 points with nine rebounds against his former team. Los Angeles committed 22 turnovers that Phoenix turned into 32 points.

Doncic, who was responsible for 40 per cent of the turnovers, said: “Yeah, that was my fault, no way that I can have nine turnovers in a single game.

“In that second quarter, instead of taking some shots, it seems I tried to get (other guys) involved, but there is no way that I should have nine turnovers.”

The Slovenian revealed that the Suns’ defensive game plan was different from what they are used to.

“Yeah, it was kinda different. Their defence allowed me to score, but tried to prevent me from creating for others, so definitely that confused us a bit,” he said.

Lakers coach J.J. Redick pointed to their defensive lapses, saying: “Multiple times in the first half we had a numbers advantage in transition on the defensive end and guys just run by us… we talked about matching their physicality, didn’t do that to any extent at any point in the game.”

After a 31-31 tie through one quarter, the Lakers took a 41-35 lead in the second with Booker off the floor. Phoenix turned up the defensive intensity from there and ended the first half on a 19-4 run to take a 66-52 lead into the break.

Brooks scored 15 points in the second quarter and added 10 more in the third when Phoenix led by as many as 21 points and took a 96-77 lead into the fourth.

Suns coach Jordan Ott paid tribute to Brooks, saying: “He plays extremely hard every single night and he works extremely hard on his game… this means something different to him and we feel that as a group.” 

Meanwhile, Anthony Davis rattled in a season-high 32 points and hauled in 13 rebounds to help the Dallas Mavericks score an upset 131-121 win over the Denver Nuggets.

Serbian star Nikola Jokic bagged 29 points, 20 rebounds and 13 assists, but Denver were unable to build on a dominant first quarter which saw them open up a 14-point lead.

Donovan Mitchell’s 43-point haul helped the Cleveland Cavaliers improve to 13-9 in the Eastern Conference, rising to sixth with a 135-119 blowout of the Indiana Pacers.

The Detroit Pistons remain top of the East after a battling 99-98 home win over the Atlanta Hawks, thanks to a flurry of late scoring by Cade Cunningham, who bagged eight of his 18-point tally in the fourth quarter.

Separately, the latest proposal made by the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in collective bargaining negotiations with the players’ union would guarantee a US$1 million (S$1.3 million) base in salary for players on max deals, ESPN reported on Dec 1.

The total earnings for max players could exceed US$1.2 million when factoring in revenue sharing, which would surpass the league’s previous proposal that had max salaries of around US$1.1 million between salary and a revenue-sharing piece.

The Women’s National Basketball Players Association rejected that proposal roughly two weeks ago, and the league and union agreed on Nov 30 to extend their deadline six weeks till Jan 9, 2026. It was the second extension since the end of the 2025 season.

Per ESPN, the newest proposal would lead to a US$5 million salary cap in 2026, and it would grow annually along with revenue growth throughout the length of the collective bargaining agreement. The minimum salary for 2026 would be US$225,000.

Team salary caps were US$1.5 million in 2025.

The players’ side has been asking for a cap that was tied to league revenue growth rather than staying flat throughout the length of the deal. The union has not yet responded publicly to the league’s latest proposal. REUTERS

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