During the 2024-25 season, I tried something a little ambitious. After reading Liberty Ballers, the SB Nation site for the Philadelphia 76ers, I noticed they let their community vote on a player of the game after every matchup. It felt like something that could work at Bright Side.
I watch every game, and lord knows I always have thoughts. So I leaned in. It meant long nights, sure. After recording the podcast, I then sit down for another 45 minutes to an hour to write, pull the stats, and build the survey.
It was a grind, but it was also worth it. It gives the community a perspective that the game recaps don’t, and I’m sure many of you woke up, put on a pot of coffee, and read the Bright Side Baller columns after each game.
Two seasons in, the value shows. It gives a clear picture of who the community believes showed up most often. It’s not a consistency rating, although it does serve somewhat in that capacity. Season-long stats tell part of the story. Bright Side Ballers tells another. It tracks night-to-night impact and who owned the moment when the game ended.
The Bright Side Baller for the 2025-26 season, for the second straight year, is Devin Booker.
The timing is interesting. It comes after a rough postseason and a Play-In that did not go as planned for the 11th-year player. Booker’s stats were down, although based on this, his consistency was up. After all, Booker won it last year as well, doing so by earning the Bright Side Baller a total of 19 times. This year, he did it with 21 despite playing 11 fewer games. That is 33%.
In 67% of his games, someone else earned that nod. There are reasons for that. Turnovers, outcomes, and the way the community views a loss. Booker carries the weight of expectations (and the weight in his wallet), so when the team loses, Booker can become more of a lightning rod for what went wrong rather than an acknowledgment of what he did right. A turnover late in the game can negatively affect your Bright Side Baller vote count, despite the fact that the team wouldn’t be in the game without you. ‘Tis a fickle system, one based on bias and emotion.
The larger point remains. Devin Booker is the best player on the Phoenix Suns. That part is not up for much debate. This exercise reinforces it, while also adding texture to how often he carried that title on a given night.
Appreciate everyone who voted all season. Truly. I am also looking forward to getting a few nights back. Writing until midnight or later, night after night, it adds up. Still, it produced exactly what I hoped for. Clarity.
