Why Tyus Jones will benefit Devin Booker with the Suns

The Phoenix Suns made a late splash in free agency, signing the best guard still available in Tyus Jones on a one-year minimum deal. It came as a shock, as Jones was expected to sign elsewhere for a bigger contract. However, according to Jones, the Suns made the most sense as he revealed in the aftermath of signing:

"Beginning with the way [governor] Mat Ishbia and the front office recruited me to how coach [Mike Budenholzer] showed me how I can significantly impact a team that has a real opportunity to challenge for an NBA title as their starting point guard".

Jones is seemingly going to fill the spot of the Suns starting point guard position, an area which Phoenix needed this past season after failing to field a pure point guard. Instead, the duties were left mainly up to superstar Devin Booker.

While Booker's playmaking is solid, Booker's main strengths involve him being the primary scorer on the offensive end.

Kevin Durant even mentioned last season that he was willing to be the second option and have the scoring primarly run through Booker, however the trade that sent Chris Paul away in the favour of Bradley Beal resulted in Booker having to pull double shift and be the primary facilitator and scoring option.

With the addition of Jones, Booker will be able to hand the facilitator duties off to a player that is more than capable of running the starting point guard position. Jones averaged 12 points and 7.3 assists for the Washington Wizards during the 2023-24 season, and had the best assist/turnover ratio in the NBA.

Having a player like Jones will create more freedom for Booker, due to Booker being able to play more off the ball and find his spots. This will allow Booker to get open and find his own shots more rather than having to focus on setting up his team mates.

The addition of Jones would also likely see Coach Budenholzer push Bradley Beal and Devin Booker up a position, with Beal or Booker likely filling in the small forward position. While this may create issues for Booker defensively guarding bigger players, he will be able to use his speed to better get past opposing defenders to find more baskets.

Booker will certainly still have times where he will need to facilitate and run the offense as a point, either to injuries or players having a rest. It will also mean Booker will not have the defend the opposing point guard as often, meaning he will not have to guard the likes of Trae Young, Luka Doncic and De'Aaron Fox who have a clear speed advantage on Booker.

While Jones may not be a superstar, he does fill the void that the Suns struggled to fill this past season. Both Booker and Beal thrive as scorers, and while they can work as playmakers, their skillsets are best utilised when given the freedom to score.