1. Devin Booker isn’t him
We’ve been bullish about Booker’s talents here at Valley of the Suns. Not making the top 10 of ESPN’s annual 100 list was a travesty, especially after Booker was named the top shooting guard in the league in the General Manager’s survey that came out recently.
Booker will be 27-years-old at the end of this month, and in theory is just about to enter his prime. He was one of the five best players in the world in the postseason last year, and has all of the help he could possibly want in the form of Durant and Beal to make a return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2021.
“I would rather have Devin Booker than Jayson Tatum” @Carsobi lays out the reasons he’s so high on Book pic.twitter.com/PjPPLwHSo2
— Nerd Sesh (@Nerd_Sesh) October 13, 2023
But just because all of this is the natural progression of a superstar, does not mean it is guaranteed. Booker looks like he’s put in the work this offseason, and at media day he looked like a man who is completely comfortable in his surroundings. The Valley is his kingdom, and everybody from Durant, to the front office, to the people in the concession stands know this.
A top five finish in the MVP race should be the base level here, meaning a return to the All-Star game and being named to the first-team All-NBA list next year. But Booker will have to spend more time running the show as the point guard than ever before, and it will take so getting used to for a player who is known more for his scoring than he is setting his teammates up.
Not that Booker isn’t capable, he can literally do anything he wants on a basketball court. A slow start or some time spent on the treatment table would be disastrous for the franchise, and is the biggest roadblock they face right now. This league is more stacked than ever before, and nobody is going to give Booker anything.