How Valuable are Suns Stars? Devin Booker, Kevin Durant Top Ten in Rankings
When it comes to the Phoenix Suns, the play of guys such as Devin Booker and Kevin Durant is priceless.
Booker has fought through some awful teams during his early tenure with the franchise and is now not only reaping the rewards of his own growth and development, but also Phoenix's revival in terms of those who sign checks and make decisions.
The Suns have recently been considered a serious contender for the NBA Finals, narrowly missing their goal back in 2021 and have failed to advance past the second round since. There's hope a full offseason with Kevin Durant and the new arrival of Bradley Beal can push Phoenix over the championship hump.
The Action Network's Matt Moore recently compiled rankings that sorted through the most "valuable" players based on the following criteria:
Regular season performance (statistical production, impact on winning and control of the game), playoff impact on winning, availability due to health and/or other factors (AKA the Kyrie Irving factor), expectation of decline due to age, expectation of improvement due to younger age and liabilities due to offensive or defensive weaknesses.
The Suns were the only team with two players in the top ten - and it's not tough to guess who those players were.
Topping the rankings were Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum and Jimmy Butler before Booker (No. 7) and Durant (No. 8) helped fill in the bottom of the top ten.
7. Devin Booker
Moore: "Booker had a rough 2023. He played the fewest games of his career, shot below his career average from 3-point range and lost in the second round of the playoffs despite the best three-game shooting performance in NBA playoff history.
"But there's a lot to like under that surface. He developed as a defender, going from "fine" to "pretty good," and his experience being blitzed by Denver in pick and rolls will lead to further development of his already terrific passing skills.
"Booker will become more of the offensive engine this season and could break into the MVP conversation. It's already impressive that he's the best player on his team that also has Kevin Durant.
"Booker is in the same tier as Tatum, but Tatum gets the edge based on his availability and defense."
8. Kevin Durant
Moore: "At the start of last season, I would have put Durant in Tier 1A with Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Curry. He's still that good when he's healthy and Durant's numbers are incredible for a soon-to-be 35-year-old coming off a torn Achilles four years ago.
"29 points, 7 boards and 5 assists per game on 56-40-92.
"When Durant was healthy and Kyrie Irving invested, the Nets looked like a contender. Durant was traded by choice to Phoenix, and the Suns went 12-1 with him to start.
"He is an even better defender with veteran strength, a better weakside rim protector and as good a shooter as ever. Durant put in his second career 50-40-90 season, tying Larry Bird for second-most all time (Steve Nash has four).
"So, why is he eighth? Durant is 34 with a ton of miles on him and hasn't played more than 55 games since he suffered the Achilles injury. That's understandable as he needs to be healthy for the playoffs and his injuries haven't prevented him from competing in the postseason.
"But durability and availability are going to be bigger questions as his career winds down. His playoff rank is lower on account of some notable disappointments in the past three seasons. He may have been up against it with Brooklyn (on account of his own choices of teammate), but he hasn't advanced past the second round in the past three years.
"Durant, on any given night, can still be the best player in the NBA, but across a full season, it’s unlikely. Father Time is undefeated."
Phoenix's duo finished ahead of Joel Embiid and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to complete the top ten.
Other notable player rankings:
35. Mikal Bridges
42. Cam Johnson
63. Bradley Beal
77. Chris Paul
