At age 39, LeBron James needs to conserve his energy throughout the long NBA season to give himself the best chance of continuing to play at a high level. That may mean, in the minds of some, occasionally sitting out a game in order to get some rest.

The Phoenix Suns finally played a preseason game with their starting five of Tyus Jones, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant and Jusuf Nurkic in Thursday’s 128-122 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers before a sellout crowd of 17,071 at Footprint Center.