The 5 best Phoenix Suns teammates Devin Booker has had

The 5 best Phoenix Suns teammates Devin Booker has had.

3. DeAndre Ayton

Booker and DeAndre Ayton are less Batman and Robin and more… Buzz and Woody? It is not that Ayton hasn’t been an excellent teammate for Booker, they have spent their entire careers together and have helped the Suns get all the way to the NBA Finals before either hit their prime.

But much like Buzz, Ayton has shown a desire to go to infinity and beyond, culminating in him signing an offer sheet with the Pacers last summer. The Suns matched, and any strain this may have had on the relationship between the two has been, to this point at least, kept out of the public eye (can we credit Bledsoe with that too?).

When the two are together and all is going well, they’re one of the best duos in the league. Ayton commands the paint well and is an ideal defensive big man, who has a nice two-man game with Booker, and who seems to accept that Booker is above him in the billing and the pecking order every night.

But there have been times when Ayton has looked to score more, or to have more touches, and that is when the combination looks like it could go off the rails. Lurking behind all of that is the real issue, which is that Ayton could one day soon decide once again that he’d prefer to ply his trade elsewhere.

Alongside that unspoken but accepted fact, is that the Suns might want rid of Ayton just as much. That deal he signed to return to the team was done at a time when the front office didn’t want to lose an asset for nothing, and before Durant joined the group.

Now Ayton is making over $30 million for the next three seasons, which alongside the mammoth deals of Durant and Booker, makes it extremely difficult to fill out a roster. On his best days, there are no realistically available centers in the league who are better at playing with Booker. But when times aren’t so good, the productivity and engagement of Ayton can dip.