Who'll 'take a backseat' for Phoenix Suns' Big 3 of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal?

TNT NBA analyst Reggie Miller compares Bradley Beal being traded to Phoenix to form a Big 3 with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant to when Chris Bosh teamed up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami in 2010.

“We were in this same boat wondering, well, someone is going to have to take a backseat and it ended up really being Chris Bosh, right?” the Hall of Famer said on NBA TV last week when the 2023-24 NBA regular season schedule was released.

“So, who is going to take a backseat with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and now Bradley Beal?”

Bosh still ended up becoming a Hall of Famer playing alongside James and Wade after being the main man for the Toronto Raptors for his first seven seasons in the league.

More importantly, he won back-to-back NBA championships with the Heat and played in four straight NBA Finals.

Beal has a chance to have similar success in Phoenix playing with Booker and Durant after having never made it past the conference semifinals in his 11 seasons with the Washington Wizards, but he’ll likely be the one who will have to sacrifice his game the most of the Suns’ Big 3.

'Be OK with that'

“You’ve got three guys who can flat-out score the basketball,” Miller said. “All three are excellent two-way players. It’s going to be fun to see with a new coaching regime how he can incorporate that because someone is going to have to take a backseat and be OK with that.”

If Beal can help the Suns win a NBA championship, he will strengthen his Hall of Fame chances, just as Bosh did in Miami and Ray Allen did in Boston when joining forces with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

Like Beal in Washington, Allen was the guy in Seattle as he averaged 24.6 points in five seasons with the SuperSonics. He went to Boston and averaged just 17.4 points in his first season there, but Allen won his first NBA championship sharing the stage with Garnett and Pierce.

Boston later played in the 2010 finals with its Big 3 and lost to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games. Allen averaged just 16.7 points in his five seasons with the Celtics, but he won an NBA championship and played in two finals.

Allen later won his second NBA title with the Heat and their Big 3 in the 2012-13 season.

Like Ray Allen and Chris Bosh

Beal is on the second half of his NBA career as was Bosh and Allen and generated similar numbers to those two on their previous teams before joining another one to form a Big 3.

Bosh averaged 20.2 points in seven seasons with the Raptors, going for a career-best 24 points a game in 2009-10, the season before he went to Miami.

His first season with the Heat, Bosh averaged just 18.7 points a game.

Beal averaged 22.1 points in his 11 NBA seasons with the Wizards. He went for a career-best 31.3 points a game in the 2020-21 season after averaging 30.5 in the 2019-20 season.

The three-time All-Star posted 22.1 points a game in each of his last two seasons in Washington.

'Be aggressive, be who you are'

Beal said during his Suns introductory press conference in June that team president of basketball operations and general manager, James Jones, and Vogel have told him to be himself.

“They already told me from Day 1 we don’t want you to come in and be anybody but yourself,” Beal said. “We don’t need you taking a backseat. Be aggressive, be who you are.”

Beal continued by saying Phoenix is “Book Nation” and he was excited to play with “two Hall of Famers” in Booker and Durant.

“I’ve never done that, you know,” Beal added. “So, I’m excited about it, I’m excited what that brings. They’ll push me in ways I’ve never been pushed. I’m excited about that and hopefully I can do the same.”

The Wizards needed Beal to score to compete, though. He likely won’t have the same scoring burden playing alongside Booker and Durant.

Booker is coming off averaging a career-best 27.6 points a game last season while Durant averaged 29.1 points last season as he joined the Suns via trade right before the Feb. 9 deadline.

Durant has led the league in scoring four times, averaging 27.3 points for his career.

Main playmaker: Devin Booker, Kevin Durant or Bradley Beal?

While it’s debatable who will have the ball more out of the three, Booker has improved as a playmaker in the last two seasons as he averaged 5.5 assists last season.

This is years after averaging a career-best 6.8 in the 2018-19 season.

Durant averaged five assists last season. His career high for assists in a season in 6.4 in Brooklyn in 2021-22. He too has grown as a playmaker.

As for Beal, he averaged 5.4 assists last season, but hit a career-best 6.6 in the 2021-22 season.

Vogel must come up with an offense that enables Phoenix’s Big 3 to co-exist and produce while playing with Deandre Ayton. The Suns big has averaged a double-double of 16.7 points and 10.4 boards in his five NBA seasons all spent in Phoenix.

Suns associate head coach Kevin Young will likely play a huge role in developing the team’s offensive strategy and philosophy. When Beal says the Suns want him to “be aggressive,” that’s usually equated in number of shot attempts.

That stat is the quickest way to explain who sacrifices their game or “take a backseat” as Miller said.

Sacrifice shot attempts for championships

Allen averaged 19.3 shot attempts in Seattle, reaching a career-best 21 in 2006-07.

The next season in Boston, Allen only averaged 13.5 attempts. He attempted essentially seven fewer shots in five seasons with the Celtics at 12.5 to the 19.3 he launched with the Sonics.

Bosh averaged 14.4 attempts with the Raptors, hitting a career-best 16.5 in 2009-10. The next season in Miami, he averaged 13.7 attempts.

However, Bosh had a minimal drop in attempts from his time in Toronto to Miami. He averaged 13.6 shots in his five seasons with the Heat.

So, how does Beal compare?

Last season, Beal averaged 17.6 shots a game, but the two seasons he averaged 30-plus points a game, the shooting guard hoisted 23 and 22.9 attempts a game, respectively.

Got to shoot it to score it, right?

'Definitely a Big 3'

Can’t see Beal averaging 30 on 20-plus shot attempts playing with Booker and Durant, but he should get more open shots sharing the court with two guys who draw double teams.

How many total attempts Beal averages remains to be seen, but his addition gives the Suns a prolific scoring trio.

“That's definitely a Big 3," said Portland Trail Blazers All-Star guard Damian Lillard on Friday at his Formula Zero elite basketball camp at The PHHacility in Phoenix.

"Brad Beal, Book, KD. I mean, that's a monster three. I think it will be fun to watch. They'll win a lot of games and the goal is to win. As players of their level, it just has to click. They've got to connect. It wouldn't surprise me if they did click, but that's the most important thing is being able to click out there and to be able to work together towards winning."

Lillard won Olympic gold in 2021 in Tokyo with Booker and Durant as teammates on the Team USA. Beal would’ve been on the team, but he missed out due to being placed in COVID-19 protocols.

"It'll be fun to watch," Lillard continued. "For me, as a fan of basketball and the NBA, and for fans out there, I'm sure it's extremely exciting for them."

Second-best behind Denver's Big 3

Sports Illustrated ranked Booker, Durant and Beal the second-best trio in the NBA behind Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon of the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets.

“While the Suns have yet to hit the hardwood with this lineup, the hopes of an unstoppable force with three stars was vindicated within a year for Phoenix,” wrote SI’s Everett Williams.

“… The hype surrounding the Suns is all speculation for the moment. The combination has never seen actions yet. But the potential alone is what makes this big three the second best in the league already. When players as individually decorated as Booker, Durant and Beal are play on the court together, the league takes notice. Plenty of eyes will be in the Footprint Center this year.”

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Who'll 'take a backseat' for Phoenix Suns' Big 3 of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal?