How Devin Booker Thrives With Kevin Durant's Presence
Aside from the phenomenal talent Kevin Durant provides to the Phoenix Suns, the attention has shifted away from Devin Booker being the primary scorer for the first time in his career. As we saw on Wednesday night, the Durant attention allowed for a flurry of 37 points from Booker and plenty of balance from the Suns offensively.
Wednesday night against the Charlotte Hornets was the first time that Durant played in purple and orange. In the game, Durant was 10-15 from the floor scoring 23 points in 26 minutes played, but Durant had influence in other areas of the game.
Booker scored 37 points and attempted 26 shots from the field, resulting in a heavy role from Booker. With Durant on the floor at the same time as Booker, his presence forced attention away from Booker, allowing for freedom in Booker’s game when shooting the ball and scoring at will.
Durant's presence will likely open up Booker's game as we saw Wednesday night.
For practically the first time in his career, Booker will have an elite scorer to rely upon. Durant will offer consistent points and allow for Booker to play a more one on one game when given the ball.
“Kev (Durant) is one of those guys you can plug him into any system and any offense, and he is going to be efficient,” Booker said following the game. “He is going to get buckets and defend at a high level, so you know what you’re getting.”
The dependability of Durant takes pressure off of Booker to be the primary scorer for Suns for the last 20 games of the regular season, giving the Suns time to figure out the chemistry. Even when Booker may struggle from time to time, Durant will be a consistent scorer, just like he has since the skinny teen from D.C. entered the league.
This sort of pressure shift off of Booker will result I more games like Wednesday night, giving the Booker and Durant a freer scoring mentality, more take over capability from the two stars. The fit of Durant was apparent in their first game together.
“I feel like I fit in pretty well,” said Durant. “Everybody out there was trying to make me as comfortable as possible – coaches and players as well. So, I’ve just got to keep grinding. This jersey will start to look normal on me as games go on, as we start to keep building who we are as a team.”
Durant and Booker looked confident playing along one another, trading mid-range jumpers as if it was a pickup game. Both Durant and Booker looked as though the game was flowing smoothly with Booker being the benefactor of shared scoring responsibility for the first time. Both players looked unaffected by each other’s scoring capability, and in fact, looked enhanced by each other’s presence.
“I mean at the end of the day, there’s a lot of moving factors around this, said Durant. “At the end of the day, it’s still basketball. So just trying to focus on that.”
The Suns will have a chunk of the remaining regular season to test out the fit of Durant with the team, including high intensity games down the stretch as Phoenix looked to climb back in to a top seed in the West. The remaining stretch prove to be important for seeding and chemistry.
With some pressure off Booker now, a new brand of basketball is brewing in The Valley, one that will be at centerstage come mid-April as the Suns chase their first title in franchise history.
