{"id":516842,"date":"2026-01-04T21:49:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T21:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/516842\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T21:49:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T21:49:18","slug":"suns-thunder-live-updates-phoenix-hosts-defending-nba-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/516842\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns-Thunder live updates. Phoenix hosts defending NBA champions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/phoenix-suns\/21\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Phoenix Suns;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Phoenix Suns<\/a> conclude a two-game homestand on Jan. 4 by facing defending NBA champion Oklahoma City at Mortgage Matchup Center.<\/p>\n<p>The 6 p.m. game will be aired on 3TV &amp; Arizona&#8217;s Family Sports.<\/p>\n<p>The Suns (20-14) are coming off a 129-102 win over the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/sacramento-kings\/23\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Sacramento Kings;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Sacramento Kings<\/a> (8-27) on Jan. 2, while the Thunder (30-5) blasted the Golden State Warriors (19-17) by 37 points, 131-94, on the same day in San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Phoenix is 0-2 against the Thunder this season, losing both matchups in Oklahoma City. The Suns last defeated Oklahoma City, 128-118, on April 2, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma City has won its last eight games against Phoenix.<\/p>\n<p>Grayson Allen (right knee injury management) is listed as questionable as he\u2019s missed Phoenix\u2019s last eight games. Jalen Green remains out with a right hamstring strain, while Jordan Goodwin will be available with a jaw sprain as he\u2019ll wear a mask.<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma City is down Isaiah Hartenstein (right soleus strain), Jaylin Williams (right heel; bursitis). Cason Wallace (right knee soreness) and Isaiah Joe (left knee soreness) are listed as questionable.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/sports\/suns-nba\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:azcentral.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">azcentral.com<\/a> for updates.<\/p>\n<p>Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/mailto:dmrankin@gannett.com\" data-ylk=\"slk:dmrankin@gannett.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dmrankin@gannett.com<\/a> or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DuaneRankin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:@DuaneRankin;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">@DuaneRankin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Support local journalism: Subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/cm.azcentral.com\/specialoffer?gps-source=CPNEWS&amp;utm_medium=onsite&amp;utm_source=TAGLINE&amp;utm_campaign=NEWSROOM&amp;utm_content=JEREMYCLUFF\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:azcentral.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">azcentral.com<\/a> today.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/sports\/nba\/suns\/2026\/01\/04\/suns-thunder-score-game-updates\/88016828007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Phoenix Suns look to snap long losing skid to Oklahoma City Thunder;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Phoenix Suns look to snap long losing skid to Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phoenix Suns conclude a two-game homestand on Jan. 4 by facing defending NBA champion Oklahoma City at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,205,71764,164,7781,949,1624,861,6563,397,6,475,472,477,6445],"class_list":{"0":"post-516842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cason-wallace","10":"tag-family-sports","11":"tag-golden-state-warriors","12":"tag-grayson-allen","13":"tag-isaiah-hartenstein","14":"tag-isaiah-joe","15":"tag-jalen-green","16":"tag-jaylin-williams","17":"tag-jordan-goodwin","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-oklahoma-city","20":"tag-phoenix-suns","21":"tag-sacramento-kings","22":"tag-the-suns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115839039142777818","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}