Devin Booker making the all-star team could make up for the Phoenix Suns missing the playoffs
By Adam Maynes
Of Course He Deserves It
Devin Booker is having another incredible statistical year this season, averaging 26.7 points per game, 6.4 assists, 4.1 rebounds, while shooting 50.9% from the field, and 36.1% from beyond the arc.
While noting “how many players in the league are averaging at least that stat-line“ is as cliche as a fan blog discussion can get, it is still impossibly tempting to note that not only is he the only player in the league to average such numbers, he is also the only player in the league to average at least 26.0 points and 6.0 assists while shooting at least 50.0% from the field.
Moreover, he is only one of seven players in the league who are averaging at least 26.0 points and 6.0 assists per game, a list that includes James Harden, Trae Young, Luka Doncic, Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, and Kyrie Irving – and there are 24 combined spots on the two draft-based rosters.
The selection of Devin Booker to the All-Star game would also help represent a small step in franchise-growth as well – and for the last decade, baby steps have been as difficult to come by as a dare-devil’s leap across the Grand Canyon.
The first piece that a successful franchise generally wants/needs is a star. Granted, local fans can recognize a star very quickly, they also tend to get swept up by raw emotion all-too quickly as well and denote a savior after only a few games.
*AHEM* Aron Baynes…
But All-Star recognition is something different all-together. Not only are the Phoenix Suns improved in roster construction and record already (they are on pace for a 37-45 record, and at 19-26 currently, have already tied the 2018-19 team in wins), but if Devin Booker is selected, then they have a bonafide, and nationally recognized star on the roster.
They have an All-Star.
For fans, this is a huge deal. Book being selected gives fans, and the team, literal bragging rights – when was the last time we had that?
But it also does something else for the franchise: Booker being an All-Star immediately raises the respect the franchise in the eyes of agents, players, and executives around the league.
From that point forward, not only does James Jones have the “come and play alongside All-Star Devin Booker” card with free agents’ agent’s, but Booker can literally sell himself along that regard in his own recruiting of players as well when discussing with players who might want a new home through either trade or free agency.
And what better location to make that sales pitch than around the league’s best for three days in the middle of February.