Suns stars Bradley Beal, Devin Booker out against Lakers - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers will look to bounce back from their season-opening loss by facing an undermanned Phoenix Suns team on Thursday. Two of the Suns' big three — Bradley Beal and Devin Booker — will sit out L.A.'s home opener, according to the team.

Beal, acquired in an offseason trade with the Washington Wizards, also missed Phoenix's 108-104 win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday with lower back tightness. Booker shined in the win over the Warriors, leading the team in points (32) and assists (8) but is out against the Lakers with a sore left foot.

The Suns' lineup will still have the ever-potent Kevin Durant, who is 37 points from passing Hakeem Olajuwon for No. 12 on the all-time scoring list.

«I think when KD misses, it's more so he missed,» Lakers guard Austin Reaves said at shootaround Thursday when asked about guarding the Suns star. «You can play great defense, you can get a good contest, you can compete and try to make it harder for him, but he's 7 foot with a 7-foot-15 wingspan. So anytime he shoots it, especially for me — 8-foot-3, what is that? — but anytime he releases it [the shot is unstoppable].

»I think I saw it was in the Finals when he was in Golden State, they paused at the top of his release and he was releasing it at like 10-2 or something. So he's releasing it over the rim. For me, that's impossible to get to, especially as I'm trying to play good defense. But you just try to make it hard for him. He's a world-class player for a reason."

L.A. lost to the Denver Nuggets 119-107 on opening night.

The two major storylines to emerge from the loss were Anthony Davis going scoreless in the second half and the Lakers looking ineffective when LeBron James was on the bench.

Davis