Game Recap: Summer Suns Fall To Spurs In Finale, 86-81

And that’s a wrap from the 2026 Summer League in Vegas! Thanks for following along with us at Bright Side.

The Phoenix Suns finish Summer League with a 3-2 record and a +8 plus-minus as a team across the five games.

Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, and Koa Peat all sat the finale out, leading to more opportunity for Koby Brea, Javonte Cooke, and others. Koby Brea had another uninspiring game where he deferred and sort of faded in the background. Cooke and Askew were the two standouts.

• Koby Brea — 6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2-5 FG in 20 minutes
• Javonte Cooke — 17 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 6-15 FG in 27 minutes
• Devin Askew — 15 points, 4 steals, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 7-13 FG in 26 minutes

They were also down Darius Brown II (rest), who impressed during the first 4 games of the Summer League.

Game Flow

First Half

Phoenix started the game ice cold from deep, going 2 for their first 14 from three-point range. The Spurs jumped out to an early 16-11 lead after a bucket from Miles Barnstable.

Jameer Nelson Jr. led the Suns’ attack with 7 points in the opening quarter on 3-4 shooting from the field.

The Spurs led 23-16 after one. It was about as sloppy as it looks, which was expected with the key trio sitting out.

Tramon Mark drilled two quick threes early in the second quarter to push Phoenix back into the mix, giving them a 29-28 lead, which led to a Spurs timeout.

Former Arizona Wildcat Andre Iguodala interviewed Koa Peat during the second quarter on the set, which was a cool full-circle moment for both Iggy and Koa, I’m sure.

A pair of sloppy turnovers got the Spurs kick-started, and they went on a 9-0 run to retake the lead, 36-28. Javonte Cooke quickly went on a personal 8-0 run to get the Suns back in it, going back and forth as you’d expect in this environment.

Phoenix ended on a positive note, retaking the lead, 43-39 at the half. Cooke had 10 points, and Nelson Jr. had 9 points to lead the Suns. Hyunjung Lee paced the Spurs with 9 points on 3-3 shooting from deep.

Second Half

The second half started with the teams continuing to trade shots. In the opening 5 minutes, the teams were deadlocked at 8 points each. Then, the Spurs took over on both ends as the Suns’ offense sputtered.

Jameer Nelson Jr. exited the game with an injury, which made matters worse.

Spurs led 61-53 after three quarters of action. They outscored Phoenix 22-10 in the third. It was ugly.

The rooks incoming sophomores had some fun on the mic as well!

After falling behind again, the Suns went on a run to make things interesting late, cutting the lead to two points with just a few seconds left, but then a foul before the inbounds led to a free-throw and a re-inbound and another foul, and the Spurs knocked all three FTs down to secure the five-point win.

San Antonio outscored the Suns by eight in the 2nd half after a promising second quarter. And that was all she wrote.

Up Next

Training camp! We’re done here.