Short-Handed Suns Reveal Starting Lineup vs Lakers

The banged-up Suns will be looking to snap out of a cold streak against the Lakers.

Feb 21, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Royce O'Neale (00) against the Orlando Magic at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns will look to get back on track tonight when they host the Los Angeles Lakers to close out a four-game homestand.

Phoenix has dropped its last two games heading into tonight and scored its two lowest point totals of the season in the losses (77, 81) with Devin Booker (right hip strain), Dillon Brooks (left hand fracture), Jordan Goodwin (left calf strain), Haywood Highsmith (right knee injury management) and Cole Anthony (not with team) all out.

All five of these players will continue to be out against the Lakers, who have also lost two straight coming into the game and will be without Rui Hachimura (illness).

Suns' Starters vs Lakers

With all the injuries they are facing, here's who the Suns will start against Los Angeles:

• Collin Gillespie
• Jalen Green
• Ryan Dunn
• Royce O'Neale
• Mark Williams

This is the lineup Phoenix has rolled with the past two games, and they would like to see Green and Williams specifically step up against the Lakers, as Green has shot 17-for-60 (28.3%) from the field 4-for-26 (15.4%) from 3 over the last three games and Williams has only scored eight points during Phoenix's two-game skid.

Importance of Tonight's Matchup

Tonight's matchup against the Lakers is arguably the most important for the Suns so far in terms of the Western Conference standings, even with Phoenix continuing to face an uphill battle due to key injuries.

The Suns (33-26) currently are the top play-in seed in seventh place in the West and are two games back of the Lakers (34-23) with 23 games left to play.

Phoenix leads the season series 2-1, meaning it would clinch a head-to-head tiebreaker with a victory, which could be big come playoff time.

With a loss, the Suns would fall three games behind the Lakers with one game remaining between the two teams on April 10 in Los Angeles that would then determine the final head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Suns will try to get over the hump of these last couple games and get back to playing their brand of basketball even with their injuries.

Suns coach Jordan Ott spoke pregame on holding himself and his players accountable during this rough patch.

"I think it starts with me," Ott said. "That's our challenge to the group post-game. Look internally. Are there any solutions out there? What we can fix in the near term and then also zoom out - we're in a good place, we're sitting there in a decent place in the Western Conference standings, but we do have higher standards for ourselves.

"(In Tuesday's loss to the Boston Celtics), it was a bad stretch in the third quarter, but we let go of some of the things that we do there in the end of the second quarter, then it gets overwhelming. So, we got to somehow overcome that, we got to see where we are sliding.

"How do we get it back as fast as possible? But that's a good challenge. Book (Devin Booker) is not coming in the game to save us. So, I think that's something that we're all looking forward to, fixing those gaps starting tonight."

Tonight's game is scheduled to tip off shortly after 7:00 p.m. MST.