LAS VEGAS (AP) — Trips to Las Vegas feel better when they end on a win.The consolation round of the NBA Summer League gave teams a chance to experience that Friday. They had already been eliminated from the chance to win the tournament championship, but at least some can head to the airport on a high note.Many of the top performers on the teams who played Friday were already done for the week, sitting out the games so as not to risk injuries.The winners' bracket of the tournament resumes with six second-round games Saturday.Friday's results:SUNS 90, SPURS 55Phoenix blew open the game by outscoring the Spurs 29-9 in the second quarter to finish 4-1.No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton rested along with second-year forward Josh Jackson. Javonte Green led Phoenix with 20 points. Shaquille Harrison had 13, Davon Reed 11 and Jack Cooley 10.The Spurs rested first-round pick Lonnie Walker IV and finished 1-4.KNICKS 102, PELICANS 83With first-round pick Kevin Knox already done after a strong Summer League,... [More]

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Trips to Las Vegas feel better when they end on a win.The consolation round of the NBA Summer League gave teams a chance to experience that Friday. They had already been eliminated from the chance to win the tournament championship, but at least some can head to the airport on a high note.Many of the top performers on the teams who played Friday were already done for the week, sitting out the games so as not to risk injuries.The winners' bracket of the tournament resumes with six second-round games Saturday.Friday's results:SUNS 90, SPURS 55Phoenix blew open the game by outscoring the Spurs 29-9 in the second quarter to finish 4-1.No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton rested along with second-year forward Josh Jackson. Javonte Green led Phoenix with 20 points. Shaquille Harrison had 13, Davon Reed 11 and Jack Cooley 10.The Spurs rested first-round pick Lonnie Walker IV and finished 1-4.KNICKS 102, PELICANS 83With first-round pick Kevin Knox already done after a strong Summer League,... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Devin Booker, the high-scoring guard at the heart of Phoenix's rebuilding plans, has signed a five-year, $158 million maximum contract with the Suns.Booker, 21, tweeted a photo of himself smiling as he signed the contract Saturday night, moments before the Suns announced the deal, which makes him the highest-paid player in the franchise's history.The 13th overall pick in the 2015 draft out of Kentucky, Booker has averaged 19.8 points per game in his three NBA seasons. He averaged 24.9 points last season, shooting 38 percent from 3-point range. He won the NBA 3-point contest at All-Star weekend in February.Booker set a franchise record by scoring 70 points in a game at Boston on March 24, 2017, just the sixth player in NBA history to score that many."I am humbled & honored to commit to the Suns organization long term," he wrote. "I loved calling Phoenix home the last 3 seasons as this team & community are special to me. Thank you to the Suns for drafting me and believing... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — General manager Ryan McDonough says Trevor Ariza was the first player the Phoenix Suns targeted in free agency, speaking with him and his wife via FaceTime from a car one minute after free agency began.The Suns spent virtually all of their cap space on the 14-year veteran NBA forward, who agreed to a one-year, $15 million contract. On Friday, he was introduced as the newest member of a team that believes it is close to turning the corner after years of losing."They are a young team with a lot of talent that don't know how to win," Ariza said.The 6-foot-8 forward will go from Houston, the team with the best record in the NBA last season, to the Suns, who had the worst and haven't made the playoffs in eight years."We need his defensive ability and versatility, his shooting ability," McDonough said, "but I think as much as anything, maybe more than anything, we need his leadership and his winning pedigree."When the Suns had their first interview with new coach Igor Kokoskov,... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Trevor Ariza has agreed to a one-year, $15 million contract with the Phoenix Suns, a person with knowledge of the situation said Sunday.The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement cannot be officially announced during the free agent moratorium.The 33-year-old Ariza brings a reputation for winning and veteran leadership that general manager Ryan McDonough said the team needed around its young core that features Devin Booker, Josh Jackson and No. 1 overall draft pick Deandre Ayton.It's a nice raise for the 14-year NBA veteran, who earned $7.4 million last season, his fourth with Houston.Ariza averaged 11.7 points last season for a Rockets team that compiled the best record in the NBA at 65-17 before losing to Golden State in a seven-game Western Conference finals. Phoenix had the league's worst record at 21-61 and has missed the playoffs eight years in a row.Ariza has averaged 10.5 points per game, shooting 42 percent from the field... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — A person with knowledge of the situation says forward Trevor Ariza has agreed to a one-year, $15 million contract with the Phoenix Suns.The person asked to remain anonymous because the agreement cannot be officially announced during the free agent moratorium.The 33-year-old Ariza, entering his 15th NBA season, brings a reputation for winning and veteran leadership that general manager Ryan McDonough said the team needed around its young core that features Devin Booker, Josh Jackson and No. 1 overall draft pick Deandre Ayton.Ariza averaged 11.7 points last season for a Houston team that compiled the best record in the NBA at 65-17 before losing to Golden State in a seven-game Western Conference finals. Phoenix had the league's worst record at 21-61.

PHOENIX (AP) — Deandre Ayton spent Wednesday with the Phoenix Suns with the feeling that this was the start of a beautiful relationship.The 7-foot-1, 250-pound center went through what he said would be his only pre-draft workout and expressed supreme confidence that the Suns will use the No. 1 overall pick to select him."I know I'm going No. 1," he told reporters.Not that the Suns have assured him of that, he's just that confident that the team won't pass on his combination of size, strength, athleticism and shooting touch."Nobody told me," he said. "That's just me. I think I deserve that. I've worked hard."It would be a comfortable fit for Ayton, who was born in the Bahamas and moved to the Phoenix area during high school. He said most of his family now lives here. Ayton played his one year of college basketball a couple of hours down Interstate 10 at the University of Arizona."Everybody knows us now," he said. "This is our second home so we just feel welcome, and it would be a blessing... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Philadelphia's Ben Simmons and Utah's Donovan Mitchell are unanimous selections to the NBA's All-Rookie team.The two guards received all 100 first-place votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters. Both players helped their teams reach the second round of the playoffs.Boston's Jayson Tatum also was selected Tuesday to the first team, falling one vote short of unanimous. Simmons, Mitchell and Tatum are the three finalists for the NBA's Rookie of the Year award.Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma (93 first-team votes) and Chicago's Lauri Markkanen (76) rounded out the first team.The second team was guards Dennis Smith Jr. of Dallas and Lonzo Ball of the Lakers, Atlanta forward John Collins, Sacramento guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and Phoenix forward Josh Jackson.

CHICAGO (AP) — Deandre Ayton might be going back to Arizona after all. The same can be true for Marvin Bagley III. Or maybe Luka Doncic gets to reunite with his past coach.The Phoenix Suns have a trio of fine candidates for the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.In various ways, the team already has an element of familiarity with each one of them.Ayton played his college ball at Arizona. Bagley, the Duke freshman star this past season, is an Arizona native. And Doncic, the Slovenian teen who has been tabbed a can't-miss NBA prospect, won a title with new Suns coach Igor Kokoskov last summer — when they helped give the tiny nation its biggest sports win, a gold medal at the European Championships.These are good days for the Suns, who have gone through three dreadful seasons and eight consecutive playoff-less campaigns. But they have a new coach in Kokoskov, a promising young core and after winning the draft lottery on Tuesday night, a chance to pick No. 1 overall at the draft in New York next month."It's... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Phoenix general manager Ryan McDonough was on stage moments after the NBA draft lottery ended, talking about the future of the Suns and mentioning how they had the best odds of picking No. 1 overall.And then he stopped to correct himself."We have No. 1," McDonough said. "I've got to adjust to that."It's an adjustment that he and the Suns will happily be making.The worst team in the league this season will pick first in the NBA draft on June 21, after the Suns won the draft lottery on Tuesday night. It's the first time the Suns will have the chance to make the first overall selection."It's great for our franchise," said McDonough, whose club went 21-61 this season and missed the playoffs for an eighth consecutive year. "It's something that you say coming into it, you don't have any control over it so you're not going to get nervous. And I was here dying. I could barely breathe. I needed an oxygen tank."The Suns have three great candidates for No. 1, all with ties to either... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Phoenix has won the No. 1 pick in next month's NBA draft.It's the first time the Suns will have the chance to make the first overall selection. The Suns had the right combination of pingpong balls pop up for them at the draft lottery on Tuesday night, a reward of sorts after a season where Phoenix had the NBA's worst record at 21-61.Phoenix lost a coin flip for the top pick in 1969 to Milwaukee. The Bucks took Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Suns took Neal Walk.Sacramento will pick No. 2 and Atlanta got the No. 3 pick — both of them moving up to get there. The top three spots were determined by the lottery, and then spots 4-14 fell in line of reverse order of record.The rest of the slots, in order, went to No. 4 Memphis, No. 5 Dallas, No. 6 Orlando, No. 7 Chicago, No. 8 Cleveland, No. 9 New York, No. 10 Philadelphia, No. 11 Charlotte, No. 12 and No. 13 Los Angeles Clippers, and No. 14 Denver.The draft is June 21 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.Josh Jackson, who just completed his... [More]