After being ranked as ESPN’s 11th-best player heading into the 2023-24 season, Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker dropped a few spots on the rankings going into this year.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!ESPN ranked Booker as the 15th-best player in the league in their latest release of players 50-11 behind Victor Wembanyama (11), Jalen Brunson (12), Anthony Davis (13) and Jaylen Brown (14).
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin wrote:
“Booker has been a model of scoring consistency, averaging between 25.6 and 27.8 points in each of the past six seasons. And after being part of Team USA at the Paris Olympics, Booker was praised by coach Steve Kerr for all the parts of his game besides scoring – playmaking, staunch defense, court awareness – that helped the team win gold. His ranking has regressed ever so slightly because of team success as he went from putting up 40-point games in the 2021 Finals to getting swept out in the first round last year. But at 27 years old he is just scratching the surface of his prime.”
NBA RANK CONTINUES WITH NO. 50-11 ????
Our panel of experts predicts the top 100 players in the league for the 2024-25 season ➡️ https://t.co/Uwr3sLcwnh pic.twitter.com/FJtuMyWq8V
— ESPN (@espn) October 16, 2024
Bradley Beal placed No. 70 on this list, while Kevin Durant will presumably be in the top 10. No other Suns player appeared on the list.
Last season, Booker averaged 27.1 points on 49.2/36.4/88.6 shooting splits, a career-best 6.9 assists and 4.5 rebounds across 68 games for the 49-33 Suns and was named to the All-NBA Third Team. His 27.1 points per game ranked sixth in the NBA and his 6.9 assists were 11th.
However, as McMenamin pointed out, Phoenix was ultimately swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Booker struggled in Games 1-3, but had a playoff career-high 49 points in the season-ending Game 4. Over the summer, Booker played a pivotal role in Team USA’s fifth-straight Olympic gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics in August.
“His steadiness, his kind of work ethic, professionalism, he’s just very honest and still kind of easy going. I love being around him every day,” new Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said of Booker last week. “The work that he puts in is just awesome; the focus, the attention to detail. I had the ultimate respect for him from a distance and now being around him, it’s just gone to another level.”
The panel that voted was comprised of 150 reporters, editors, analysts and producers who ranked the best players going into the new season only. On Thursday, the top-10 players will be released.
Booker has missed Phoenix’s last two preseason games with right ankle soreness, but Budenholzer said he did “great” and looked “ready to go” in yesterday’s practice.
Do you think this ranking for Booker is justified? Where would you rank him?
Suns’ Bradley Beal ranked No. 70 on ESPN’s list of top 51-100 players in NBA, falling from No. 37
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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
