The Phoenix Suns are staring at a hard truth, and it starts with Devin Booker. At 3-8, this season has already pushed them into a rough place, and after Monday night’s 122-96 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the picture looks even uglier. Victor Wembanyama took over, Booker put up 32 points, and nobody else on the Suns could really keep up.
That kind of night says a lot about where Phoenix is right now. Booker was carrying the load almost by himself, with Khaman Maluach finishing as the second-leading scorer with 11 points.
No other Sun reached double figures. When that happens, it’s hard to pretend the roster is close enough to compete.
And that’s where the bigger issue comes in. The Suns have spent years moving picks out the door, which leaves them with limited flexibility to build around Booker. If they can’t realistically add enough around him, then the cleanest path forward may be to consider moving him for a reset.
Booker has still done his part. In his first nine games, he’s averaging 26.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.1 steals while shooting 48.8% from the field and 36.0% from 3-point range on 5.6 attempts per game.
The production is there. The team around him just hasn’t matched it.
Last season, Phoenix outperformed expectations and reached the playoffs, only to get smoked in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder. That run didn’t really change the long-term outlook. If anything, this year is making the next decision even clearer.
The Suns may want to do right by their franchise player, and Booker reportedly doesn’t want to leave Phoenix. But the front office also has to deal with what the standings are saying. Right now, the Suns look headed toward a stretch of being stuck in the middle, and that’s not a place that leads anywhere meaningful.
If Phoenix can turn Booker into a haul of picks and young talent, it could give the franchise a real chance to reset. Ignoring that possibility would only make the eventual rebuild harder.
In Other News...
Devin Bookers Latest Climb Adds To His Place In Suns History
Devin Booker added another line to his already deep footprint in Suns history during Phoenixs game against the Clippers, moving past Julius Erving on the NBAs all-time scoring list and into 79th place with 18,371 career points. For a player who has spent his entire career in Phoenix, milestones like this have become part of the backdrop to his rise, with Booker already standing as the franchises all-time leading scorer.
The bigger picture for the Suns is even more straightforward: owner Mat Ishbia has made it clear Booker remains the face of the team and the player expected to guide the next push toward a championship. Individual markers on the leagues scoring list only reinforce how long Booker has been doing this at a high level, and how central he still is to whatever comes next in Phoenix. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Are About To Get A Painful Grayson Allen Reminder
Grayson Allens season has become a reminder of what the Suns gave up when they moved him in the deal that brought back Miles Bridges and others. In Charlotte, Allen has settled in as a useful two-way piece, and his recent 27-point outing with six 3-pointers only sharpened the contrast for a Phoenix team that has had a hard time finding consistency on the defensive end.
What Phoenix misses most is not just the shooting, but the kind of defensive versatility Allen brought to the rotation. The Suns have struggled to get stops this season, and Allens ability to space the floor while handling different matchup duties is the sort of steady value that tends to stand out more once it is gone. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Return To Phoenix With More At Stake Than Usual
The Suns head into their matchup with Charlotte in a far better health spot than they have been in recent stretches, and that matters as much as anything in a season where availability has often shaped the rotation. Phoenixs injury report is light, with only Mark Williams out because of a torn labrum, while Jordan Goodwins return from injury gave the team a useful lift in the previous game and added another active piece to the mix.
Charlotte, meanwhile, arrives with a longer list of injury concerns, which only adds to the sense that this one could hinge as much on who is available as on who is playing well. There is also a little extra edge in the building, with Grayson Allen and Royce ONeale set to face their former team for the first time this season, a small subplot that gives an otherwise ordinary regular-season meeting a little more bite. [Read more 🡒]