The Suns sit at 2-4 to start the season, and what’s defined this stretch more than anything is effort. It hasn’t always shown up in the standings, but you can feel the care, the grind, the want. When you’re sitting at 2-4, you start searching for reasons and ideas to make it better. Hell, even teams that haven’t lost yet are still figuring things out this early in the season.
One of the early narratives this season has been Devin Booker’s body language, with AZ Sports’ Dan Bickley calling it out in his latest
“Bickley Blast” after the Suns dropped that one-point heartbreaker to the Grizzlies last week.
“It’s cruelly ironic that the one I’m most worried about is the one I never considered,” Bickley blasted. “Devin Booker, who might have had the most deceiving 32-point I’ve ever seen last night, and his body language isn’t ideal either…A player who cannot find a rhythm or a comfort zone. A player who went straight off the court last night without shaking hands then declined media availability afterwards. Now neither of those things are a big deal to me, but they are windows into our most important player, and it seems Valley sports fans are at peak frustration.”
Peak frustration? Come on. This isn’t that. This is a team with little to no expectations, so how can we be anywhere near peak frustration?
I’ll tell you about “peak frustration”. It was watching the miserable Suns the last two years, when the dream was a championship, and the result was a postseason sweep one season and missing the playoffs entirely the next. That was peak frustration. Night after night of half-assed effort, turnstile defenses, and “chillin’” comments. Collapses breed frustration.
What we’re seeing now is something different. This is a season of adjustment, a time to exercise perspective, because this team is in the middle of a retool, not a collapse.
Yes, Devin Booker hasn’t looked comfortable to start the season. But that hasn’t stopped his production.
His discomfort makes sense when you think about it. He’s out there trying to find his rhythm alongside a revolving door of new teammates. Ryan Dunn is the only consistent returning starter from a season ago, and he started just 44 games last year. The new starting five hasn’t been healthy once, and through six games, Booker’s already played with 56 different lineup combinations. Fifty-six.
So yeah, there’s going to be some unease as he learns who fits where, how they move, and how their presence shifts the geometry of his shot. Yet still, Booker is producing.
Despite all that, what we’re seeing from Devin Booker, even if it doesn’t feel like peak Booker, is statistically the best version of him to ever open a season. That’s not opinion, that’s math. I went back through the first six games of every Suns season from the past eleven years, broke down the numbers, and compared them side by side. Here’s what I found.
Across eleven seasons, Devin Booker has opened the year playing in the Suns’ first six games a total of six times. His first full six-game start came in 2017-18, when he averaged 20.5 points per game. Since then, he’s done it five more times: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2022-23, and the past two seasons. Overall, Booker averages 23.9 points, 5.0 assists, and 4.1 rebounds in his first six, doing so on 48/39/82 splits.
When you step back and look at the full context of this season, Devin Booker is averaging 30.3 points per game while shooting 49.2% from the field and 43.2% from deep. Add 6.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds, and you’ve got a stat line that screams efficiency, control, and growth.
Now, you might wonder where that stacks up with his other season starts.
Technically, it’s not his highest scoring average — he opened 2023–24 putting up 31.5 a night — but that came in only two of the first six games. So, if we’re talking full participation, this is the best scoring start Booker’s ever had in a season where he’s played all six. It’s also his second-best shooting start from the field behind 2022–23, when he hit 52.9%. Those 6.5 assists? The highest he’s ever averaged to open a year.
Maybe he didn’t shake hands after a game where he missed two shots, one of them the would-be game-winner. That’s not negativity, that’s frustration. The good kind. That’s a player who cares, who’s pissed because he expects better.
You can say his body language looks off, and maybe it does, but that’s not a red flag. It’s a reflection of someone trying to find rhythm in a rotating cast of teammates and lineups. I lean into he doesn’t look as comfortable as we’re accustomed to seeing versus his body language is off. But that’s just me.
The irony? This is statistically the best all-around start Booker’s ever had, yet people are worried about his vibe. His 67.5 eFG% is the second-highest of his career to start a season. He’s the first player in franchise history to score 30+ points in 5 of the team’s first six games. Do we need him to smile the entire time, too?
The only number that actually looks uncomfortable is his plus-minus: -16 through six games. The only time it was worse was 2017–18, when it sat at -42. So yeah, maybe he looks uneasy, maybe he’s searching for flow, but that’s part of the process. This isn’t a symptom of something wrong; it’s the look of a player carrying a team that’s still trying to figure out who it is.
Oh, and as for body language? How’s this for ya?
