Suns All-Star Devin Booker hottest MVP candidate heading into finish of regular season
Devin Booker gave a one-word answer when asked after his season-high 49-point performance at Denver if he should be in the MVP conversation.
"Yeah," he said while nodding his head.
The Phoenix Suns All-Star guard doesn't have to say one more word this season about being a candidate.
Everyone else is talking about it.
MVP: @DevinBook
👑👑👑— A11Even (@KyrieIrving) March 25, 2022
From Kyrie Irving to Isiah Thomas to Doc Rivers to Damian Lillard to his teammates and head coach Monty Williams, Booker is the hottest MVP candidate right now.
Add Stephen A. Smith to the list.
On ESPN's First Take last week after Phoenix's 140-130 win over the Nuggets, Smith and Kendrick Perkins debated whether Booker is a top-three or top-five MVP candidate.
Perkins has Booker in his top five.
Related: Devin Booker unleashes season-high 49 on Nuggets after 'disrespectful' introduction
Damian Lillard showing love to Devin Booker again 🤝 pic.twitter.com/bbhRzy9nUX
— 𝘼𝙖𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣 (@AaryanS19) March 23, 2022
Smith has him higher thanks in large part to Phoenix (61-14) having the NBA's best record and the No. 1 overall seed with a nine-game lead over the Grizzlies (52-23).
"They're the best team in basketball," Smith said as the Suns are coming off Sunday's 114-104 victory over Philadelphia as Booker scored 35 points in the comeback win.
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"And Devin Booker has been a model of consistency. He's not scoring 50 one game and two the next. Consistently, 25 points a game, 25, 5 (rebounds), and 5 (assists). This is what he does on a night-in, night-out basis. and, they just got from the finals. So everybody knew they were coming. Everyone knew they had arrived and still, he showed up this year and has been busting everybody's living butts. I can't ignore that."
Booker is averaging 30.3 points on 53.8% shooting (41.4% from 3), 6.8 assists to 2.8 turnovers, and 4.4 rebounds in 13 games after the All-Star break.
The Suns are 10-3 in those games and won their last eight during this stretch. They begin a three-game road trip Wednesday against Golden State (48-27).
The numbers and wins stand out even more because Chris Paul missed nine of those games with a fractured right thumb.
Paul missed 15 games total. He's played in Phoenix's last two games.
Booker was out four of those 15 games in the NBA's health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Suns went 3-1 during that stretch. They've gone 10-1 since Booker returned.
As well as Booker has played in leading the Suns, he's seventh on NBA.com's MVP ladder.
Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)
Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
Ja Morant (Grizzlies)
Devin Booker (Suns)
DeMar DeRozan (Bulls)
Kevin Durant (Nets)
Booker was two spots lower on the list last week, a point Williams addressed before Thursday's game at Denver.
"I saw Devin was in like ninth place," Williams said. "OK. There you go. That's all you need me to say. What's the criteria? The criteria seems to be a moving target every year. Is it winning and stats. Is it stats. Is it impact on winning? I don't know what it is so it's hard to make a judgment as a coach and if I do that, I spend too much time getting upset about it because two of our guys aren't where they should be."
Paul is in NBA.com's "five more" MVP mention list along with Stephen Curry (Warriors) James Harden (76ers) LeBron James (Lakers) and Donovan Mitchell (Jazz).
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 Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns Devin Booker hottest MVP candidate as regular season concludes
