On Friday night in Northern California, two teams that have encountered numerous challenges this season will square off. The Phoenix Suns will travel to the Bay Area to take on the Golden State Warriors.
Following a devastating first-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last year, the Suns revamped their roster, yet they have yet to discover the ideal combination. Phoenix is fighting for a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament with many teams.
The Golden State Warriors, whose first season after Klay Thompson’s departure has not gone according to plan—certainly not after a 12-3 start. The Dubs and Suns are in a brutally tight fight for playoff seeding ahead of Friday night’s meeting.
With plenty of star power and a fun rivalry on the schedule this Friday night in the Bay, check out our Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors predictions, including our NBA expert picks, with tip set for January 31 at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Matchup Suns vs Warriors Overview
Teams: Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors
Date: Friday, January 31
Time: 10:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Chase Center
Win Probabilities
The prediction tip for the winner in the game between the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors is the Golden State Warriors.
Projected Final Score
Our predicted final score for this NBA matchup is the Golden State Warriors 114-106 Phoenix Suns.
Expert Prediction: Who Wins?
These two teams will be interconnected at least for a few more years, with the Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant’s Golden State Warriors tenure and connection to Steph Curry and Draymond Green tying the teams together.
Whether they like it or not, they have formed further connections this year. Both teams are heavy with veteran players and have made moves to prioritize winning in the now (though Phoenix has done so to an extreme degree). And, unfortunately for both the Warriors and Suns, they are underwhelming in the lens of the 2024-25 NBA season.
The last point explains why Phoenix and Golden State are jostling for position in April’s Western Conference play-in tournament and why their meetings take on extra pressure.
Why the Phoenix Suns Can Cover
An unfortunate, if not also expected, side effect of having such a top-heavy roster featuring Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal is an imbalance in other spots. That remained brutally true for Phoenix at the start of this season, despite the coup of Tre Jones and Monte Morris both signing for the veteran minimum contract amount.
There was no more glaring example of this imbalance in Phoenix than at the center. Not only did the Suns lack bodies, with Mason Plumlee somehow factoring in, but they were being actively hurt by who was there. Jusuf Nurkic was terrible, disinterested, and increasingly unpopular among his superstar peers. With a contract nearing 20 million this year, Nurkic was an anchor and remains on the fringe of the team.
The Suns did, however, find a way to address their team’s glaring hole. In acquiring Nick Richards from the Charlotte Hornets, Phoenix gave itself a dependable, NBA rotation-caliber big man to call upon—two key factors Nurkic and Plumlee failed to meet.
With arguably the league’s best pure scorer in Durant and another All-NBA caliber bucket getter in Booker, the Suns never lacked offensive potency. They are a top 10 team by offensive rating this year and around the same mark over their last 10 games. The elite efficiency Durant and Booker, in particular, bring is evidenced in a true shooting mark in the top five in the entire NBA.
However, they sorely lacked performance defensively. In that regard, Richards has been a revelation. The Suns are 3-1 in his first four games with the team, and the lone loss came at the hands of the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers. Though it’s a small sample size, Phoenix has also seen its defensive rating sit in the top 10 in the NBA over those four games.
If Richards can continue to help stabilize Phoenix’s defense, the Suns will have a chance to cover against anyone, riding the great offense Durant and Booker help bring to the table.
Why the Golden State Warriors Can Cover
Great offense may be exactly what the Phoenix Suns need on Friday night because Steph Curry will be ready to launch a great offense of his own. Though Golden State has suffered through mediocre offensive efficiency all year, ranking 23rd in offensive rating and just 18th over its last 10 games, it can still get off high volume and good efficiency from deep.
The Warriors take the third most percentage of their total shots from three in the league, with 46% of their attempts coming from distance. As a team, they’ve been solid on three point attempts, making 36.6% of them and hovering around the top in the NBA. Curry and Buddy Hield provides them with two high-level shooters, and Moses Moody, in his own right, is rounding into a reliable 40% three point shooter.
A commitment to three point shooting enables the Warriors to stay in most games, and staying competitive in this matchup would give a chance for Curry to take over. The Suns have a complete lack of defensive players, with rookie Ryan Dunn being their only competent defender—so much so that he became a starter early on as a rookie despite being taken at the end of the first round. Phoenix’s defense is 3.5 points better per 100 possessions with Dunn on the court.
Dunn is currently injured with an ankle injury, and if he is out or even slowed by the ankle in this meeting, Curry could have a patented Curry night—taking over completely and leading the Warriors to victory.
How to Make Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors Picks
Ready to make picks on the Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors matchup on Friday, January 31? Make sure to head over to Sportzino, where you can find every NBA game on the slate this weekend and so much more!
