NBA: Suns defeat Jazz thanks to great performances from Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal

NBA: Suns defeat Jazz thanks to great performances from Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

The Utah Jazz were crushed 129-115 on Thursday night by the host Phoenix Suns, led by 31 points from Kevin Durant and 30 from Bradley Beal.

The Suns prevailed without Devin Booker, who was sidelined due to left hip pain.

Phoenix led 20-9 after five minutes of play because to 19 points from Durant, who also had eight rebounds and seven assists. After the first quarter, the Suns led 40–28 and never looked back.

With 22 points, Lauri Markkanen led the Jazz. In the defeat, John Collins scored twenty-one points and pulled down fourteen rebounds, while Collin Sexton finished with nine assists and nine points.

Phoenix won its third straight game by shooting an incredible 59.1 percent from the field, making 14 of their 29 3-point tries. Beal had seven assists and made six of the Suns’ three-pointers.

In the end, Grayson Allen recorded a game-high 14 assists. For Phoenix, Drew Eubanks finished with 12 points, Eric Gordon scored 19 points, and Jusuf Nurkic contributed 16 points and eight rebounds.

Utah closed the gap to three points, 81-78, in the third quarter thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Sexton and Kris Dunn.

In response, the Suns went on a 13-0 spree that was capped by two 3-pointers from Gordon to take the lead.

Before the deadline earlier in the day, both teams were active in transactions.

In a three-team trade, the Suns acquired David Roddy from the Memphis Grizzlies and Royce O’Neale from the Brooklyn Nets.

Jordan Goodwin, Brooklyn Keita Bates-Diop, and second-round draft selections in 2026, 2028, and 2029 were sent by the Suns. In addition to Chimezie Metu and Yuta Watanabe, Phoenix sent Memphis “2026 draft pick considerations” as well, according to a press release.

In the meantime, Utah consented to trade Kira Lewis Jr., Otto Porter Jr., and a 2024 first-round selection to Toronto in exchange for Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji.