The Phoenix Suns have moved passed an eventful trade deadline, albeit one in which they failed to land their long-term target in Jimmy Butler. Instead it was Kevin Durant's name that was out there in the days before the window to move players closed, with the 36-year-old finally addressing the Suns' apparent willingness to listen to offers for him.
The last several weeks have been as you were for this group as well. Nice wins over beatable opponents such as the Utah Jazz, combined with harrowing losses to Western Conference powerhouses in the Oklahoma City Thunder. This franchise still finds itself outside the play-in tournament, an extremely disappointing spot to be in over halfway through the season.
Which makes the latest Devin Booker snub unsurprising.
Despite continuing to have scoring outbursts to help his team win games, Booker has failed to truly catch fire this season. This despite spending less time as a playmaker - as he was forced to do for much of last season - and with Bradley Beal now coming off the bench. The Suns also got Booker a better big man in Nick Richards to play with, although that move will only get them so far.
Did it hurt to see him not named an All-Star this season when the teams were announced? Sure, although from the perspective of the Suns at least, having Durant named as a starter gives them some presence in San Francisco. That was as much to do with popularity as anything else, which is part of the problem for Booker right now.
Look how hard Kevin Durant and Devin Booker go in their Pregame workout
— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) February 10, 2025
This is harder than most young players go in their Summer individuals
You get out of the game what you put into it
(Via @DuaneRankin 🎥)
pic.twitter.com/8IpHJQgZoZ
He never looked like troubling guys like Durant, Stephen Curry or Luka Doncic for the public vote, while playing for a team battling to make the play-in meant his case to get put on one of the three teams by the coaches in the league decreased as well. The hope was Booker could use this as a source of motivation for the rest of the campaign, then Anthony Davis went down.
Rather than have another big replace Davis at the midseason exhibition, it was Kyrie Irving who was instead selected to take his place. Another guard, who plays for a Dallas Mavericks group that has the same amount of losses so far this season as the Suns. Yes Doncic had been out since Christmas Day with a calf injury, meaning Irving had to do more of the heavy lifting.
He's now gone altogether having been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it's not like Booker hasn't had to do everything for the Suns on a lot of nights himself. Both Beal and Durant have not only missed time through injuries themselves - ironically both sitting out with calf strains themselves at one point in time earlier in the year - both missed the recent win over the Jazz.
Instead it was left to fringe role players like Bol Bol to come in and try and make a difference. Which was a nice story and it was great that head coach Mike Budenholzer believed he could help, but also speaks to the lack of true depth on this roster. Despite having a pair of star teammates Booker doesn't have a lot of help, although you could also say the same is true for Irving.
Which gets to the the real issue for Booker right now. This season is passing him by, with the lack of surprise around his All-Star snub - even after injury to Davis - the latest example. Fans are paying less attention, while the very real prospect of him missing the playoffs altogether is coming into focus. Booker might be as good as ever some nights, but people are paying attention like they used to.