Shorthanded Suns Fall 123-103 to Spurs in San Antonio, and Luke Kennard Exits With a Sore Left Knee

SAN ANTONIO

The final score was never really the story in San Antonio. The Phoenix Suns, resting six rotation players, lost their final road preseason game 123-103 to the Spurs at Frost Bank Arena on Wednesday night — and the result that will follow them home is not the margin but the sight of guard Luke Kennard heading straight to the locker room in the second quarter with what head coach Jordan Ott later called a sore left knee. The Arizona Republic reported the loss dropped Phoenix to 1-3 in the preseason, in front of a sellout crowd of 18,345.

Phoenix played this one by design with a skeleton crew. The Arizona Republic reported that the Suns rested Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Miles Bridges, Oso Ighodaro and Collin Gillespie, and that Ott said pregame the six had gotten in a morning workout together. The starting five was Jamaree Bouyea, Kennard, Haywood Highsmith, Ryan Dunn and Khaman Maluach — a group asked to hold its own against a San Antonio lineup that, per the Republic, started De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama. Fox was making his first preseason appearance after being hobbled by hip tightness.

The Play That Changed the Night

Kennard's night ended with 6:43 left in the second quarter. The Arizona Republic reported that he landed awkwardly on a contested floater against the Spurs, stayed on that end of the floor bent over as play went the other way, grabbed initially at his left knee and then at the top of his left calf, and went straight to the locker room when play stopped. He was ruled out for the remainder of the game as the second half began, according to Arizona Sports.

Ott's postgame update, reported by both the Arizona Republic and Arizona Sports, was measured: a sore left knee, further evaluation once the team returns to Phoenix, and a player described as being in good spirits. Arizona Sports added, via team reporter Amanda Pflugrad, that Ott said the team would see how Kennard responds tomorrow. Nothing in that update suggests a long absence — but nothing rules one out either, and for a Suns team that built its offseason partly around Kennard's shooting, the distinction matters. Preseason injuries to rotation guards have a way of following a team into opening night, which for Phoenix is October 21 at Portland.

How the Game Got Away

For a quarter, the understudies held up. Bright Side of the Sun's recap had Phoenix in front 23-22 after the first, powered by early defense and Dunn's activity. The second quarter is where it turned: San Antonio won the frame 38-26 on the way to a 60-49 halftime lead, and the mechanics of the loss are visible in two lines of the box score. Bright Side of the Sun noted the Spurs went 30-of-35 at the free-throw line to Phoenix's 12-of-15, and made 13 three-pointers to the Suns' seven — a 36-point gap from those two spots alone in a 20-point loss. Phoenix actually won the paint by 16, per the same recap, which tells you how strange the shape of this game was: the Suns scored inside and lost everywhere the modern game is usually decided.

Wembanyama posted a game-high 19 points, the Arizona Republic reported, and Bright Side of the Sun's account credited him with four blocks in 23 minutes. Castle added 18, with 14 of them at the line. San Antonio pushed its lead to 21 in the third quarter and as far as 116-91 in the fourth before Phoenix closed on a 12-7 run to settle the final margin. For the Suns, Bouyea and Dunn each scored a team-high 15 points; the Republic reported Bouyea added eight assists and four rebounds in the emergency starting role, and Bright Side of the Sun noted Dunn was perfect from the field — 6-of-6 shooting, 3-of-3 at the line, with two blocks. Koa Peat and Kennedy Chandler added 10 apiece off the bench.

Why Kennard Matters to This Roster

The concern over a preseason knee is proportional to what Kennard was signed to provide. Arizona Sports reported that Kennard arrived in free agency on a two-year, $13 million deal, that he led the NBA in three-point percentage last season at 47.8 percent — a feat he also accomplished in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons — and that his shooting is expected to be crucial for a team that lost Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale in the offseason. He had been averaging 12.3 points per game this preseason, per Arizona Sports, and scored a team-high 20 against these same Spurs on Saturday. A second unit that, as the Arizona Republic put it, has its perimeter shooting in question can ill afford to lose its most proven floor-spacer for any stretch.

What Comes Next

The preseason ends Friday, October 16, when Utah visits Phoenix, and the Arizona Republic reported Ott hopes to get the rested six together again in the meantime, taking a wait-and-see approach on the group for the finale. Bridges' situation bears watching too: the Republic noted he injured his right ankle against Chicago and sat out Saturday's Spurs game, though Ott said after practice on October 12 that the ankle was recovering well and he would not be pressed into the next preseason game. Then the games count: the regular season opens October 21 on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers. Whether Kennard is in the rotation that night is now the first real question of the Suns' season — one that a 20-point preseason loss in San Antonio made unavoidable. For more on how Phoenix set up this rematch, read our earlier coverage of the Suns' decision to rest six in San Antonio, and follow the season on Previously's sports hub and the news hub.