Phoenix @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 2, 2018 ) Phoenix 96, L.A. Lakers 120

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James still won't be ready to play when his team hosts the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, but he is getting close. James, who has been out over a month with a strained groin, began participating in contact drills at practice on Saturday for the first time since suffering the injury.

"He was a full participant in that, so it was good to see," Lakers coach Luke Walton told reporters of James. "He looked good. He's still really good at basketball, in case you guys were wondering." The Lakers are 5-10 since James went down and slipped into ninth place in the Western Conference while dropping their last three games, including the first two of a four-game homestand. The Suns seem like the perfect opponent against which to snap a slide as they enter Sunday's matchup losers of seven in a row and owning the worst record in the West. Phoenix was crushed 132-95 in the opener of its three-game trip at Denver on Friday, leading to a closed-door team meeting that lasted nearly an hour.

TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, FS Arizona (Phoenix), Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles)

ABOUT THE SUNS (11-40): Phoenix's players were reluctant to tell the media what was discussed during the meeting when the doors to the locker room finally opened on Friday, instead insisting that they all just took long showers to wash away the poor performance. "I feel like we've seen the problems that we've had long enough," small forward Josh Jackson told reporters. "I feel like at any moment, each guy here, we all like each other enough and are comfortable with each other enough that any one guy can call somebody out just say what they think and how they feel. Definitely don't need to wait till after any game." The Suns are losing by an average of 19.4 points during the current slide and have not won on the road since outlasting Orlando 122-120 in overtime on Dec. 26.

ABOUT THE LAKERS (25-24): James is just one of several injured players for Los Angeles, which will also be without point guard Lonzo Ball (ankle) on Sunday while forward Kyle Kuzma (hip) and guard Josh Hart (knee) are day-to-day. The Lakers were outscored 36-23 in the fourth quarter at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday and ended up losing the game 120-105, marking a second consecutive double-digit home setback. "We had a challenge tonight and that was to be more physical," Walton told reporters after the loss. "And that was going to be a lot of work. It was going to be something that was going to take all five guys. And we know that Minnesota is a bigger team than us, or a stronger team than us with what we have right now. The only way to win that physicality battle is to just bring it and out work them. Unfortunately, we did not do that tonight."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Suns PG De'Anthony Melton (ankle) is not expected to play Sunday while C Deandre Ayton (ankle) is questionable.

2. Lakers PG Rajon Rondo (finger) returned from a 14-game absence on Friday and collected 15 points and 13 assists in 37 minutes.

3. Los Angeles took the first two meetings this season by an average of 21 points.

PREDICTION: Lakers 112, Suns 103