Suns beat the NBA-worst Kings 114-103 to sweep season series

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Jalen Green scored 20 points, Grayson Allen had 18 and the Phoenix Suns beat the NBA-worst Sacramento Kings 114-103 on Tuesday night to sweep the four-game season series.

Seventh in the West at 35-26, the Suns won their second straight and got back Devin Booker after the star guard missed four games because of a right hip injury. He scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half.

Collin Gillespie scored 17 points — hitting 5 of 8 3-pointers — and had nine assists and six rebounds. Oso Ighodaro added 14 points and 14 rebounds. Phoenix is without Dillon Brooks because of a fractured left hand.

The Suns used a 14-0 run in the third quarter to turn a 63-62 deficit into a 76-63 lead. Royce O’Neale capped the run with consecutive 3-pointers.

Maxime Raynaud had 22 points — on 10-of-12 shooting — and 10 rebounds for Sacramento in the opener of a five-game homestand. The Kings dropped to 14-49. They are 2-3 following a franchise-worst 16-game losing streak.

Precious Achiuwa added 18 points, DeMar DeRozan had 17 and Russell Westbrook 16. Kings forward Keegan Murray missed his third straight game because of ankle injury.

Phoenix led 59-55 at the half. Ighodaro had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the half, and Achiuwa had 16 points for Sacramento.

Suns: Host Chicago on Thursday night.

Kings: Host New Orleans on Thursday night.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Phoenix Suns guard Jalen Green (4) loses the ball while going to the basket against Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud (42) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Alan Greth)

Phoenix Suns guard Jalen Green (4) passes the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Alan Greth)

Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen (8) drives to the basket around Sacramento Kings guard Daeqwon Plowden (29) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Alan Greth)

Phoenix Suns forward Oso Ighodaro (11) hangs on the rim during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Alan Greth)

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) talks with an official during the first half of an NBA basketball game against Sacramento Kings, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Alan Greth)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday threatened whoever Iran picks to be the country’s next supreme leader, saying he will be “a target for elimination.”

Israel Katz made the statement on X.

“Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people — will be a target for elimination,” he wrote.

Israel targeted a building Tuesday associated with Iran’s Assembly of Experts, which will select the new supreme leader. Israel killed the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a strike Saturday that started the war.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Explosions sounded in Iran's capital city Wednesday as its war with the U.S. and Israel entered a fifth day following earlier strikes on an Iranian nuclear site and retaliatory strikes by the Islamic Republic across the Gulf region.

The explosions around Tehran came as dawn broke, according to Iran state television, while Israel's military said its air defenses had been activated to intercept Iranian missiles and explosions were heard around Jerusalem.

Air sirens sounded in the morning across the island kingdom of Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Qatar’s Ministry of Defense said Iran launched two ballistic missiles against it and one hit Al-Udeid Qatari Base, but didn’t cause casualties.

Five days into a war that U.S. President Donald Trump suggested could last a month or longer, nearly 800 people have been killed in Iran, including some Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.

Explosions also hit Lebanon, where Israel said it is retaliating against Hezbollah militants. Lebanon's state-run media reported that at least four people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a residential complex in the city of Baalbeck. More than 50 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 300 wounded, according to the Health Ministry.

A day earlier, Israel launched airstrikes against Iranian missile launchers and a nuclear research site, and Iran struck back against Israel and others, targeting U.S. embassies and disrupting energy supplies and travel.

The American embassy in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. consulate in the United Arab Emirates came under drone attacks, and the U.S. State Department said Wednesday that it had authorized non-emergency government personnel to evacuate Saudi Arabia. The UAE said it had been attacked by more than 1,000 Iranian missiles and drones since the conflict began but had intercepted most of them.

Iran has fired regular salvoes of missiles and drones missiles at Israel, though most of the incoming fire has been intercepted. Eleven people in Israel have been killed since the conflict began.

The spiraling nature of the war raised questions about when and how it would end.

Trump's administration has offered various objectives, including destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, wiping out its navy, preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring it cannot continue to support allied armed groups.

While the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government, senior administration officials have since said regime change was not the goal.

Trump on Tuesday seemed to downplay the chances of the war ending Iran's theocratic rule, saying that “someone from within” the Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once the U.S.-Israel campaign is finished.

Speaking Tuesday from the Oval Office, Trump said Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s toppled shah, is not someone that his administration has considered in depth to take over.

As far as possible leaders inside Iran, “the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said.

“I guess the worst case would be do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen," Trump said. "We don’t want that to happen.”

Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years. It’s only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen. Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement.

Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, said American forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran since the war began. In a video posted Tuesday on X, Cooper said the U.S. has “severely degraded Iran’s air defenses” and taken out hundreds of ballistic missiles, launchers and drones.

“We’ve just begun,” Cooper said.

Satellite images published Tuesday by Colorado-based company Vantor showed the domed roof of Iran’s presidential complex in Tehran had been destroyed, supporting Israel’s claim of an overnight strike. Iran did not acknowledge the damage or report any casualties.

Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the Israeli military struck a building in the Iranian city of Qom where clerics were expected to meet to discuss selecting a new supreme leader. He said the army was still assessing whether anyone was hit.

The Israeli military said it also conducted airstrikes on Iranian sites that produce and store ballistic missiles, and that it destroyed what it called Iran’s secret, underground nuclear headquarters. Without providing evidence, it said the site was used for research “to develop a key component for nuclear weapons.”

There was no immediate public comment from the U.S. or Iran about the site Israel named.

Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.

The U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people in Iran, according to the Red Crescent Society.

Kuwait, which had previously reported a single death, said Wednesday that an 11-year-old girl was killed by falling shrapnel as Kuwaiti forces were intercepting “hostile aerial targets.” In addition, three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain.

Six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers were killed by a drone strike Sunday on a command center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.

Rising reported from Bangkok, and Magdy from Cairo. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami contributed to this report.

Andrew Coady and his daughter Keira, right, talk about his son, Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa, outside their home, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in West Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows aircraft on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) that are operating in support of the war in Iran, on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)

A police car blocks a street leading to the U.S. consulate after an Iranian drone struck a parking lot outside the compound, sparking a small fire in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, early Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)