The Phoenix Suns were one of the surprise packages of the season, but nothing Devin Booker does now should come as a shock. The 29-year-old is putting up some big numbers while serving as the franchise’s offensive focal point, and he’s managed to do so without his presumptive co-star in Jalen Green.
We won’t see Green anytime soon, but that won’t slow Booker down. He certainly looks comfortable doing it all for the Suns – and perhaps most importantly, he seems happy too. Not something that could have been said while Kevin Durant was in town, as the team failed to reach the heights we all thought they would.
Booker has every right to stay with The Valley this season.
Kevin O’Connor stood up on his podcast Yahoo! Sport recently, and he was Pierre Andresen along for the ride. The Suns were naturally a topic of conversation given their position in the Western Conference, and O’Connor floated the idea that another organization could test the Suns’ resolve this offseason with a trade package for Booker.
At this point, though, that doesn’t seem likely since we haven’t seen the superstar (what he is) watching this content in Phoenix in a while. Little things, like his interaction with a younger fan during the win over the Dallas Mavericks, are reminders of how much he means to the city, but also how seriously Booker takes life. The guy also.
Then there are the stats: At 28.2 points per game, this is somehow a career high for one of the best scorers in the league. The seven assists are consistent with what he’s done the past two years – when he was more of a playmaker next to Booker – while shooting a shade under 38 percent from deep is one of the best results he’s ever had.
It was said that Booker worked best as the second-best player on a good team, but he has already shown that to be misleading. If you make him the cornerstone and surround him with enough talent on both ends of the court — with some role players who exceed expectations — you’re going to win games.
We’ve only seen Booker and Green in the same backcourt for a while, but there’s already reason to believe it’s Green who will be the second option next to Phoenix’s favorite son. It was extremely important for the Suns to keep Booker involved this season as most assumed they would lose a ton of games. Only they win, Booker laughs and he enjoys being the man.
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