“The chemistry is there. The talent is there…. What if the stars align for the Suns, just this once?” wrote ‘Bright Side of the Sun’ reporter Brandon Duenas recently. And he has a reason to be optimistic. After the Suns’ dream of making a super-team around Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker turned into a colossal disaster, with the team missing out on the playoffs entirely last season, Phoenix is clearing the house now. Durant and Beal have already departed, while Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks have been added to the roster.
The Suns are betting everything on Devin Booker, giving him a new contract worth $72 million annually, and building a new team around him. After multiple false dawns, will this be the year that the Suns finally ‘do it’? Let’s find out!
What Is the Phoenix Suns’ Complete 2025 Pre-Season Schedule?
Date
Opponent
Location
Venue
Country
Note
October 3rd, 2025
Los Angeles Lakers
Palm Desert, California
Acrisure Arena
USA
Lakers as home team
October 10th, 2025
Brooklyn Nets
Macau, China
Venetian Arena
China
NBA’s return to China
October 12th, 2025
Brooklyn Nets
Macau, China
Venetian Arena
China
Suns as home team
October 17th, 2025
Los Angeles Lakers
Phoenix, Arizona
PHX Arena
USA
Only home pre-season game
Overview
The Phoenix Suns will open their 2025-26 NBA season run with a four-game preseason schedule. Things will kick off on October 3rd, when the Suns face the Los Angeles Lakers in Palm Desert. Post that, the team will travel to Macau for a double-header against the Brooklyn Nets, in the NBA China Games 2025. The two teams will lock horns on October 10th and 12th at the Venetian Arena. And after a brief period of rest, they’ll face the Lakers again in their final preseason outing. Fun fact: The Suns have come up against the Lakers in the preseason game in Palm Desert for the past two seasons, winning on both occasions. Will they do the three-peat? We’ll know soon enough.
Headliners
Not just the players, the Phoenix Suns also brought in a new Head Coach after last season’s disaster. Mike Budenholzer was promptly dismissed the very next day after the end of the regular season, as the Suns brought in Jordan Ott to steady the ship. Ott, reportedly, beat fellow Cavs assistant Johnnie Bryant for the job, and he was heavily vouched for by Devin Booker himself. The preseason games will give a good indication of how Jordan Ott’s version of the Suns looks.
Fans will also get the opportunity to see the new additions, namely Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and Khaman Maluach, in action. In fact, Green has publicly shared his excitement about starting his journey with Phoenix. “I got a team out in Phoenix who wants me to be me. I get to play alongside one of the best in the game in Book. It’s another opportunity to build a winning culture,” Green said.
The 2025 Phoenix Suns Preseason Schedule pic.twitter.com/M5GTMvLEUW
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) July 30, 2025
Venue Highlights
The Acrisure Arena, where the Lakers will host the Suns on Oct 3rd, has been operational since December 2022. It has primarily served as the home arena for the American Hockey League’s Coachella Valley Firebirds. The first NBA pre-season game to take place there was between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 4th, 2024. Two days after that, the Lakers hosted the Phoenix Suns.
The Venetian Arena, in Macau, China, first opened its doors to host events back in August 2007, and has continued to remain operational since. Over the years, it has hosted several major events, including Lady Gaga’s The Fame Ball Tour, a UFC Fight between Michael Bisping and Cung Le, and Celine Dion’s concerts. It hosted its first NBA Exhibition game, between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic, back in October 2007. The upcoming Brooklyn Nets vs Phoenix Suns matchups will mark a return of NBA basketball to the arena after 18 years.
The PHX Arena continues to remain the home arena of not only the Suns but also the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. As highlighted, only one pre-season game for the Suns will take place at home in the upcoming season.
International Impact
Hosting the NBA games again in China is a big deal, since the league hasn’t done so since October 2019. The relationship between the NBA and the Asian country soured after the Houston Rockets’ general manager, Daryl Morey, tweeted an image that read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong”. This was a reference to the protests that had earlier taken place in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Even after the Rockets’ owner Tilman Fertitta said that Morey does not speak for the Rockets, the Chinese Basketball Association, then led by former NBA player Yao Ming, said it was suspending its relationship with the team.
This started a domino effect, which further led to stopping the sale of Rockets merchandise in China, cancelling the broadcasting of two NBA preseason games, the cancellation of NBA Cares community events in Shanghai, and the suspension/termination of all mainland Chinese sponsors of the NBA. Therefore, these upcoming games in Macau are vital for the NBA, as these are the first baby steps towards mending the league’s relationship with China.
Phoenix Suns preseason schedule includes games vs. Brooklyn in China https://t.co/3wEjGw8Xfi via @azcentral
— Chris Coppola (@chris_coppola) July 30, 2025
With the slate clean from last season, there is a distinct possibility that the Phoenix Suns turn out to be the dark horses for a championship next season. Do you think the Suns have enough quality to go all the way? Or do they still need to add a few more pieces to complete the roster? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
The post Phoenix Suns Pre-Season Schedule 2025: Full Breakdown, Dates, Venues & More appeared first on EssentiallySports.
