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‘Go Lakers’ Devin Booker rooting for the Suns’ biggest rival

© Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

“Go Lakers” is probably not something Phoenix Suns fans want to hear from any player, especially not the face of the franchise.

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Well, that’s exactly what Devin Booker said with a smile on his face after last night’s 108-107 win over the Sacramento Kings.

The Suns (48-33) are currently the No. 7 seed in the West and can move up to No. 6 (out of the play-in) if the Lakers (46-35) defeat the New Orleans Pelicans (49-32) Sunday and Phoenix wins its last game of the regular season on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves (56-25), as the Suns have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Pelicans.

(Video via AZ Central’s Duane Rankin)

“We’ve been saying for the past month or a couple of weeks, it’s so many possibilities and different things that can happen that you kind of have to lock into your team,” Booker said. “You’ll drive yourself crazy watching other games and wishing and hoping. So either way, you’re going to have to matchup against somebody, and we have to be ready to do that.”

The Golden State Warriors could have also moved the Suns up to No. 6 with a win over the Pelicans last night, but fell 114-109 as the Pelicans picked up their fourth-straight win.

The Lakers stayed alive in terms of positioning in the play-in with a 123-120 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday. This win coupled with the Kings and Warriors losing moved them up from No. 10 to No. 8 in the standings.

Phoenix cannot drop lower than the No. 7 seed, so there is a chance the Suns could actually play the Lakers in the first round of the play-in.

The No. 7 seed hosts the No. 8 seed to begin the play-in, while the No. 9 seed hosts the No. 10 seed in a separate matchup. The winner of the 7-8 game advances to the playoffs to play the No. 2 seed. The loser plays the winner of the 9-10 game, and the winner of this contest advances to the playoffs to play the No. 1 seed.

If L.A. beats New Orleans, but Phoenix loses to Minnesota, it will host the Lakers in the play-in game. Additionally if the Suns win or lose, and the Lakers, Kings and Warriors all lose, this is another scenario where the Suns would play Los Angeles.

Right now, there is a three-way tie between the Oklahoma City Thunder, Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets for the No. 1 seed, as all three of these teams boast a 56-25 record, so it is unclear who exactly the two play-in winners will be playing.

Could Booker’s comment end up backfiring in this situation? We will see.

Current Western Conference playoff race after Suns get crucial win over Kings

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

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