The competition is starting to pick up for the Phoenix Suns, and the timing could not be worse. Bodies keep piling up on the injury report. It is not the kind of mix you want. It makes Devin Booker’s life
heavier every night.
The regular season moves in waves, and right now Booker is in a valley when it comes to his overall impact. It tracks. The schedule is tougher, and the players who usually take some of the load off him are sitting in street clothes.
With Jalen Green and Grayson Allen out, defenses are circling him. They are throwing doubles at him any time he touches the ball. They are swarming him like shoppers fighting over the last bag of brown and serve rolls. I grew up crushing those things every Thanksgiving. I do not want Hawaiian rolls, Fry’s. Bring back the classics.
When Booker works in isolation, defenses are more than willing to bump him, grind him down, and stay physical without stepping over the line. And even with all that, defenses keep crossing the line anyway. Booker has averaged 8.5 free throws per game over the Suns’ last four outings.
Over the last four games, Devin Booker’s offensive punch has cooled off. He is averaging 19.3 points on 36/30/79 shooting splits. He is still producing 6.8 assists in that stretch, but the 4.5 turnovers pull that number down. That works out to an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.5. His overall impact on that end has been quieter than usual.
But what does any of this actually mean?
I see people tying his dip in production to some kind of leadership flaw. As if having a tough scoring stretch while defenses load up on him and dare Dillon Brooks to carry the offense says something about his character. I do not buy that. Those ideas do not cancel each other out. If anything, the way he takes on that weight and tries to power through it speaks to how invested he is in the group. If he wanted to pout, he could. Ja Morant has written the blueprint for that.
But look at the Minnesota game where he fouled out. Booker spent every timeout in the huddle, pointing things out, walking teammates through actions, staying locked in. From the surface level, that alone checks the leadership box, right? That is usually how people judge it. They look at on-court production and nothing else.
Real leadership happens in the practices no one watches. In the conversations on the bench you never hear. And Booker is not drifting through the background. His engagement on defense shows that. Him diving out of bounds to save possessions is something I have not seen from him in years. He is buying into what this system is asking from him. That buy-in matters, and it is a big reason the Suns have been better than expected this season.
That does not mean everything is fine. Devin Booker struggling to execute is a real issue. It is a reminder that even though he is one of the top 20 players in the league, he is not in that top tier. The true top five or ten guys can still bend a game to their will no matter what a defense throws at them. Booker has not reached that level, and during this stretch without key teammates, his effectiveness has dipped.
He is not built like Shai Gilgeous Alexander, someone who slows the entire gym down and toys with the defense. We have seen the best version of Booker in the Olympics and in his peak seasons. He thrives with a clear role and teammates who help shape the floor around him.
This current group has been fun, scrappy, and stubborn, but none of them consistently pull enough attention away from him to shift how opponents defend. Defenses are happy to let Collin Gillespie try his luck. They will live with Jordan Goodwin rising up. They will even grin when Dillon Brooks goes into a fadeaway. He has been solid, but nobody is bending coverage.
When Booker touches the ball, everything tightens. They blitz him. They body him. They crowd every step. And that is why having Jalen Green and Grayson Allen back will matter so much for him. Defenses cannot ignore either one. If they do, those guys can drop 42 on their heads. That level of threat changes the air around Booker, and it gives him the margin he needs to find his rhythm again.
And I get it. You can point to the jumper being broken right now. And there’s merit to that. But part of that is the physicality of the game. The fatigue of navigating so many doubles and getting pounded on every drive. Is it what we want? No. But it is the reality.
For anyone still holding out hope that Devin Booker will step back into an MVP race someday, it is probably time to let that go. And that is completely fine. If he stays bought in, plays within the system, and is surrounded by enough talent to free him up in the spaces where he thrives without getting mauled, you will see the best version of him. That version is more than good enough to drive winning.
But for the few who question his leadership, I would love to know what they think he is failing to do. What box is he not checking? Leadership does not have to look like tyranny. It does not have to be Kobe snarling or Jordan breaking teammates down in practice. A leader does not need to bark every possession. Booker leads in his own way, and it shows in the effort he gives, the engagement he brings, and the way he carries the group when things get thick.
This stretch has been the opposite of clean for Booker. It has been loud, messy, bruising basketball with a skeleton crew running beside him. It’s hard to execute and live up to the max player designation and paycheck when the top scoring options around you are in street clothes. Yet he shows up, he absorbs the hits, he stays plugged in, and he keeps trying to drag the group forward.
That matters.
It matters more than a four-game dip in box score shine. The Suns need talent back, and when they get it, Booker’s game will open up again. Until then, this is the version you ride with. A star who keeps swinging when everything around him gets heavy. A player who leads in the quiet ways. A guy who stays in the fight.
