Suns will be Booker’s or Durant’s team?

The upcoming NBA season is perhaps the most important for the Phoenix Suns in the century.

Phoenix seeks to win its first championship with a formula proven in the NBA’s past: a trident of stars.

The Suns have Devin Booker who will be accompanied by Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

Team Arizona is in win-now mode. They have invested to achieve it, but in the League winning the championship trophy is not as simple as collecting three stars.

1- What is the main challenge for Devin Booker in the next season?
Since 2015, the Suns have been a team built around Devin Booker with the goal of winning the NBA championship, but they have been outplayed in the last three seasons in which they qualified.

The new owner of Phoenix (Mat Ishbia) bought the franchise with the intention of solving that problem and it seems that he is willing to do anything to achieve it: he signed Kevin Durant at the end of last season and Bradley Beal in the offseason.

Phoenix’s plan is for Durant and Beal to be the partners who take Booker to the top of the NBA.

But it is not a plan with a foreseeable future. Yes, they will dominate throughout the regular season, they have a safe place in the playoffs, but that is where the real competition in the West begins: there are Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors who are going for revenge, the champions Denver Nuggets with Nikola Jokic , the Los Angeles Lakers of LeBron James, the Dallas Mavericks with the Kyrie Irving-Luka Doncic duo and maybe some surprise.

Durant was an NBA champion as a teammate of the Warriors, then failed as a leader in the Brooklyn Nets; Beal has had an on-again, off-again playoff run.

The challenge for Booker is to be a champion and demonstrate that not only is he a good multimillionaire NBA player, but that he is one of the best of his generation capable of winning a ring.

2- A key number or statistic for Devin Booker next season.
47 and 10. These were the points and assists that Booker had in Game 6 of the first-round series against the LA Clippers on April 25. With that performance, Booker became, according to ESPN Data, the first player in NBA history to combine at least 45 points and 10 assists in a game to close a playoff series. If you ask that question at a Tuesday night trivia session at any sports bar in America, you’re bound to come up with 50 names before you find the Phoenix Suns point guard.

The point is that Booker demonstrated in that game and in last season’s playoffs his ability to lead the Suns to the postseason, something that was overshadowed by the extraordinary run of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets to the title. NBA. In 11 games he averaged 33.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 7.2 assists, shooting 58.5% from the field and 50.8% from the three-point line. Although he has never been known for being a ball stealer (0.8 in his career), he made the playoffs with 1.7 per night.

3- Will the Suns be Devin Booker’s team or Kevin Durant’s?
Thinking that this Phoenix Suns team could be a contender to win the title if Devin Booker was not on the roster may seem like a utopia. However, imagining this team without the presence of Kevin Durant would not give rise to excessive illusions. That is why it is clear that both are fundamental to the Suns’ aspirations.

In the previous season, it was the young star who put up better numbers than the veteran, especially in the playoffs. In the 11 games they played last postseason, Booker had better averages in points (33.7 versus 29.0), assists (7.2 versus 5.5), steals (1.7 versus 0.8) and effectiveness in triples (50.8% versus 33.3%). But Durant had better averages in rebounds (8.7 versus 6.1) and blocks (1.4 versus 0.8). The numbers, far from deciding who this team belongs to, serve as an example to affirm that both have complementary roles.

It is always said that veterans are usually the leaders of each contending team. If we clung to this phrase, then we should think that the Suns should follow Durant’s example. But it must be recognized that Booker, with 8 seasons behind him and starting his ninth, cannot be classified as an inexperienced player. Therefore, beyond thinking, choosing and determining whether Phoenix Sus is Kevin or Devin’s team, I am inclined to think that this will be Durant and Booker’s team.