As Phoenix Suns star, Devin Booker, continues to push toward being one of the best 2-guards in the NBA, how does he compare to the best at the position?
A first-team All-NBA off-guard spot is something Devin Booker surely covets on his march toward superstar status. With only four players in this elite group, how does the Phoenix Suns 5th year, 23-year-old compare to those stars at the same point in their careers and what does Booker need to do to take the next step in his own career to reach the same heights?
Since Michael Jordan retired for the second time in 1998, there have been 21 All-NBA first teams announced, but only four men have held the 2-guard slot that Jordan dominated for the better part of a decade.
Following Jordan, Allen Iverson earned the spot three times, Kobe Bryant 11 times, Russell Westbrook two times, and most recently, James Harden is a five-time honoree of this coveted off-guard spot on the All-NBA team.
So how does Devin Booker compare to these five all-NBA greats?
Criteria for Comparison
To compare Devin Booker to some of the game’s greats, I took two different perspectives into account. Using this season as the basis for Booker’s statistics meant I could pull two seasons on everyone else their 23-year-old season, and their fifth season. This works because Kobe was the only player to enter the NBA at a younger age than Booker, meaning at 23, Booker hit his 5th season younger than all the players except Kobe Bryant.
From there I compared per-game averages across 21 different statistical categories to see how Booker stacked up against those who have been the best. The players were stack ranked across all 21 statistical categories and then those rankings were summed, giving each player a point total for the season.
The lower the total, the better the season.
Looking at both the 23-year-old performance and consideration for the 5th year, three things were clear, Michael Jordan was way better than everyone else, Russell Westbrook performed the poorest, and Devin Booker compares well, particularly as a 23-year-old, next to these superstars and Hall of Famers.
A deeper dive: