Devin Armani Booker
Shooting Guard, 6’6”, 206 pounds, 28 years old, 10 years of NBA experience
The Phoenix Suns’ all-time leading scorer and the franchise’s cornerstone, Devin Booker, heads into his 11th season with the Valley after being picked 13th by them in 2015. With Myles Turner leaving the Indiana Pacers this offseason, Booker is the only player from the 2015 NBA draft still with the team that drafted them, and is now just one of four players, joining Alvan Adams, Kevin Johnson, and Walter Davis, to play more than a decade in the Valley.
With Kevin Durant traded, Bradley Beal off the team, Booker enters a new phase in his Suns career, one where not only his talent, but his leadership are more important than ever for the Suns to get back to the playoffs and contention. Turning 29 in October, Booker is now one of the oldest members of the team and the only player on the roster who’s been an All-Star or played in the NBA Finals.
Right smack in the prime of his career, the franchise, fanbase, and his teammates have his support as he leads the Valley into a new chapter after their super team era failed miserably.
2024-25 Recap
Last season was an underwhelming one for Booker’s standards. He stayed healthy playing his most games in a season since his second season, but his field goal and three-point percentages were some of the lowest of his career. He averaged 25.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 7.1 assists (a career high), but his performance didn’t translate to winning like it has in previous seasons, and despite being healthy enough to be a realistic all-star candidate, he did not make the team.
With Mike Budenholzer deploying 35 starting lineups last season, he was tasked with playing point guard, shooting guard, and small forward at times, which left Booker and his teammates playing inconsistent roles. His 41-point game against the Chicago Bulls, 47-point and 11-assist double-double vs the Utah Jazz, and his 31-point and 11-assist outing vs the Golden State Warriors demonstrated his ability to not only score but also play make at a high level. However, with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal not consistently playing and the team’s poor defense, despite Booker being both top-12 in both assists and points per game, the team had their worst record in six seasons.
As the Suns began to struggle heading in the early part of 2025, Booker tried to insert himself as a vocal leader, which didn’t sit well with Budenholzer at the time.
As the season continued to fizzle out and the team continued to derail, Booker had some dynamic scoring streaks, but just like the rest of the season, it did not equate to winning.
Contract Details
Booker signed a two-year, $145 million extension this offseason that keeps him in the Valley until the 2029-30 season. His extension made him the highest-paid player in the NBA by annual salary. This season, he will account for about a third of the team’s cap.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Great off the dribble and getting to his spots, Booker is one of the league’s premier three-way scorers. In a league going away from it, he has a reliable mid-range game, and in recent years, his playmaking has taken a step up, averaging career-highs in assists the last two seasons.
While he’s not the strongest defender, he provides energy and his agility and length make him able to guard multiple positions.
A multiple-time All-NBA player, Booker’s resume speaks for itself. He helped lead the Suns to the NBA Finals in 2021 and was an All-NBA first-team and an NBA All-Star in the 2021-22 season en route to the franchise’s most successful regular season in team history when the team went 64-18. In his Finals appearance, Booker had consecutive 40-point games, a rare feat.
While he can knock it down from deep, Booker is an inconsistent three-point shooter. He hasn’t shot better than 36.4% from deep in the last three seasons, and this past season was the second-worst three-point shooting season of his career percentage-wise.
One Key Factor
With a young roster surrounding him, Booker’s leadership will be one of the most valuable assets for the team, not only this season, but for seasons to come. The expectations around the team and roster are significantly different this season than they have been in the past five seasons. The team will not be judged by fans and pundits on how many playoff series it wins, and instead by how they develop as the year progresses.
How he leads could be displayed by how Jalen Green, Booker’s starting backcourt partner for the upcoming season plays. Green’s start to his career is very similar to Booker’s first four seasons; how he develops could be closely tied to how Booker influences and leads him.
With Booker giving his stamp of approval for the hiring of new head coach Jordan Ott, it would not be surprising to see him retaking a vocal leadership approach, as he plays alongside a lot of young players.
While other teams know what he provides on offense, if Booker is able to make everyone around him better, then the team’s best and franchise player can help set Phoenix up for longterm success.
Prediction Time
I think Booker will have a strong season, averaging around what he usually does, having a slight uptick in scoring, but his impact will go beyond the scoreboard. His influence on rookies Khaman Maluach, Koby Brea, and Rasheer Fleming will be what makes it a great year for him, not how many 40-point double-doubles he has.
In a time of retooling and realignment for the Valley, Booker needs to spearhead the way, and will do so for the 2025-26 season, and in the process break Tom Chambers’ single-season record for points per game in a season he set at 27.2.
Stat Prediction: 73 games played, 28.4 PPG, 7.0 APG, 5.1 RPG, 1.1 SPG on 48/37/87 shooting splits
Final Thoughts
The franchise’s future is in Booker’s hands, and how the team responds to their first year without Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal will be strongly based on his impact on and off the court.
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