West Notes: Suns, Isaiah Thomas, Lakers, LeBron James, Warriors

Suns

The Suns are signing veteran guard Isaiah Thomas to a 10-day contract and Kevin Durant indicated he likes the move.

“Excited for him. He’s been trying to get back in the league for a while,” Durant said, via Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “Good to have him back in the league. He’s been playing well in the G League. So when he get his feet up under him, understand what we do, when he gets minutes, I know he’ll produce.”

• Added coach Frank Vogel, via Rankin: “Isaiah is someone we think is a hell of a player, has been a hell of a player throughout his career. We know he can still play from what he’s been doing in the G League.”
• Thomas is expected to join Phoenix this week. Our Ashish Mathur has more details here.

Lakers

LeBron James erupted for 40 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, but after a lengthy review, it was ruled that his 3-pointer with 2:07 to go didn’t count, and the Lakers lost to the rival Warriors.

“I’ve never seen that be called before like that — in that particular time,” James said, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “That was kind of weird. … It took some momentum away from us.”

James added he believed the officials got the call wrong.

“I didn’t believe I stepped on the line, obviously,” he said. “I knew how much space I had over there. And when I shoot, I shoot on my tippy toes, so it’s kind of hard for me to have a heel down.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr admittedly wasn’t a fan of the call, either.

“I also don’t like the rule that you can go back and look at an out of bounds, or LeBron’s 3,” Kerr said. “That seems to happen once or twice a year. I’d love to see that rule go away. I think we’re trying so hard to get everything just right, at the expense of the flow. I mean, who cares if a guy’s foot is half an inch on the line? Is that worth going back 45 seconds and changing everything, with the unintended consequences? It’s not my favorite rule, for sure.”

• Star big man Anthony Davis could miss time after exiting the game with an eye injury, as we relayed here. “It’s going to take everything to scrape out some wins,” Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell said, via McMenamin. “At this time of the year, they all matter.”

Warriors

Forward Draymond Green said shooting guard Klay Thompson has adjusted well to his new role off the bench.

“Early on, he was too worried about how people were judging it. Now he don’t care,” Green told reporters, via Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

• Thompson moved from No. 148 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list on Saturday, passing good friend Kevin Love along the way.
• Former Warrior GM Bob Myers, now an analyst for ESPN, said he’s a fan of the idea of James and Stephen Curry on the same team. “You know what I wish? I wish we could have seen [Curry and James] on the same team for one season,” Myers said on ESPN. “Because you know why? They’re perfect complements to each other. Forget that they’re megastars and the most popular players in the NBA. Curry and LeBron complement each other on the basketball court. LeBron is the point forward, one of the best passers ever, and Curry moving off the ball — we’re probably not going to get to see it.”