Tyson Chandler Knew Devin Booker Would be Special

Phoenix Suns SG Devin Booker is currently one of the best players in the NBA, let alone at either of the guard spots.

Booker's ability to score at will from nearly any spot on the floor has helped elevate the Suns to new levels, which included a trip to the 2021 NBA Finals and a record-setting 64-win regular season the year after.

It's been a long road for Booker, who was made a lottery pick by Phoenix back in 2015. Booker pushed through some awfully tough squads around him in his early years, and though Suns fans were excited to see how the Kentucky product developed, it's hard to imagine anybody believing Booker would reach the heights he has.

Tyson Chandler might have.

Chandler was in Phoenix from 2015-18 with Booker, and recently on the "All The Smoke" podcast, he admitted he knew Booker was the best player on the Suns as a rookie.

“I’m guarding him, and he was able to pick up (everything) quick,” Chandler said. “I can tell him something once, boom. I told him like, ‘Come off this pin down this way …’ Boom, he did it. And I was like, ‘Young players don’t work like that.’ So instantly, I knew this kid was special. He’s gonna be special.

“I remember afterwards the GM (Ryan McDonough) was like, ‘What do you think?’ And I was like, ‘I’m gonna be honest with you. The best player you got on your roster is that kid that you drafted, Devin Booker.’ And he was like, ‘What? Really? What do you think about (Bledsoe and Knight)?’ I was like, ‘They’re good. I’m telling you. Me, them, this roster, he’s better than all of us. That’s the best player you got on this roster.'”

Tyson Chandler on his experience with rookie Devin Booker:

“Me, them, this roster… He better than all of us. That’s the best player you got on this roster.” — Tyson Chandler to Suns GM Ryan McDonough

(via @shobasketball)pic.twitter.com/htf7FF9y6B
— Booker Muse (@DevinBookerMuse) September 8, 2023

Chandler - a NBA Finals winner and All-NBA player - certainly knows talent when he sees it.