At the 2023 FIBA World Cup, USA basketball went belly-up very slowly and then all at once. A halftime deficit to Montenegro gave way to a group stage loss to Lithuania, which gave way to a semifinal loss to Germany, which gave way to yet another loss in the bronze medal game against Canada. Throughout eight humiliating games, the Americans revealed that they’d grown fat and happy: everybody could make hard shots, but nobody wanted to do the legwork to create easy ones.
“USA basketball better get some NBA stars that know how to play a role,” tweeted Kyle Kuzma. “Anybody can be nice with the ball in their hands but can you be cool with defending and going to the corner for a few possessions?"
“I’ll do it,” Devin Booker replied.
And so, at the Olympics, he did. Despite the fact that LeBron James took home MVP and Steph Curry arguably should have, Booker was Team USA’s most indispensable player during their gold medal run. For six games, he narrowed the scope of his brilliance without dimming it. He made himself seen, not heard, hounding opposing guards for the full length of the court on defense and making quick—and correct—decisions on offense. His shooting was characteristically pure (he shot 56.5 percent from three, the fifth best in Team USA history) and his passing was crisp (20 assists against only three turnovers). Whenever America hit its stride, Booker was, if not in the thick of things, standing supportively next to whoever was.
While Olympic basketball is fun because it forces big name players to find ways to bum it as glue guys and ball-movers, Booker’s cameo as a souped-up role player represented his unique strain of greatness.
In this sense, Booker is the league’s most amenable superstar. If Luka Doncic and Shail Gilgeous-Alexander dominate their respective offenses, Booker goes with the flow. Dating back to his year at Kentucky, he’s been a three-and-d wing, a shameless gunner, an off-ball mercenary and a primary playmaker. There’s a Slumdog Millionaire quality to his game; he’s achieved a level of all-around mastery almost by happenstance, the byproduct of toggling between different roles throughout his career. Accordingly, he’s the rare player who’s as effective peeling around screens as he is setting up shop in the post; he runs a pick-and-roll with just as much precision as he runs the lane in transition.
By virtue of having such an expansive skillset, Booker is paradoxically forced into a more defined role; he has to accommodate his teammates because they’re too limited to accommodate him. Last season, Booker unveiled yet another side of himself, serving as Phoenix’s de facto point guard and averaging a career-high 6.9 assists per game in the process. Booker’s 46.3 passes per game were another personal high, evidence of his effort to play more inclusively.
For all the hype about Phoenix’s bally-hooed big three, Bradley Beal proved to be shockingly juiceless as a creator in his first year in Phoenix, and Kevin Durant is reclusive in his old age; Durant has perfected the mechanics of scoring to the point that basketball has become a solo endeavor rather than a team pursuit. As such, Booker’s evolution as a playmaker was a necessary counterweight to Durant’s bucket-getting hermitude—the Suns’ offensive rating was 8.1 points better with Booker on the court, in large part because they scored six more assisted points per 100 possessions when he played.
While Booker acquitted himself well at point guard during the regular season, Phoenix’s first round sweep exposed many of Booker’s flaws as a lead ball-handler. In particular, he’s too polished and precise, lacking the looseness that elite point guards possess. Against Minnesota’s league-leading defense, Booker struggled to maintain the necessary aggression. Over the four games, Booker took just 20.1 shots per 100 possessions, a sizable drop-off from the 26 that he put up during the regular season. With Booker blanketed by Jaden McDaniels and Nickeill Alexander-Walker, the Suns mustered a paltry 110.5 offensive rating.
Now that Tyus Jones is in Phoenix, though, Booker will once again have a steady set-up man. A point guard’s point guard, Jones can handle the expository stuff such as calling plays and initiating sets. In turn, Booker can rediscover the best version of himself.
Entering his 10th season, Booker is special, not necessarily because he has the answers to solve any defense, but because he never stops peppering them with questions of his own. Whereas playing point guard limited Booker to certain usages and areas of the court, a return to off-ball-dom allows Booker to access his full repertoire. It imparts a degree of spontaneity that he can’t always provide himself. Yes, he can still run a pick-and-roll, but he can also be a screener or peel off and veer around an off-ball screen; he can duck in for a post-up against a mismatch or clear space so Durant can attack one of his own. After their embarrassing first-round crashout, Phoenix must now prioritize Booker’s strengths rather than rely on him to cover their flaws. It’s time for the Suns to revolve around their biggest star.
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