Bill Simmons picked Devin Booker as Phoenix's player to watch for the upcoming season, and the choice says a lot about where the Phoenix Suns are headed. Booker remains the face of the franchise and the highest-paid player on the roster, but the conversation around him is shifting toward a simpler question: will he score more and facilitate less?
That idea lines up with what Booker said at Suns Media Day. He made it clear he wants to shoot the ball much more this season, even admitting that he can sometimes drift too far toward playmaking. As he put it, he can fall into passing too much and wants to make sure he falls into shooting too much instead.
Booker's role could be changing
Last season, Booker led the team in assists with 386 and was third in passes per game with 35.8. That helped show how much Phoenix leaned on him to handle the offense, even though his best value is still as a high-level scorer. The tension there is obvious: the Suns need his creation, but they may need even more of his shot-making.
Booker's shooting profile supports that case. Simmons pointed to the idea that Booker is the kind of player people assume is automatic from deep, even though the numbers show a more mixed recent stretch. The broader point is that Phoenix may be better served if Booker spends less time setting everyone else up and more time forcing defenses to react to him.
Why the discussion matters
Eddie Johnson framed the issue bluntly, saying that if a team wants to go far and win a championship, it needs that guy, and Booker is that guy. Johnson also praised Booker's comments about shooting more, saying he is glad to hear that mindset because Booker cannot afford to take a back seat to anyone on the team.
That is the key storyline here. Phoenix is trying to define Booker's role in a way that matches both his talent and the team's bigger goals. If he becomes even more aggressive as a scorer, the Suns could get a clearer version of their offense. If he remains the primary organizer, the team may keep asking him to do too much at once.
There is also a larger roster conversation around that role, and that is where Jalen Green enters the picture. While Simmons chose Booker as the player to watch, the comparison underscores how much Phoenix's future could depend on how the offense is distributed. For now, though, Booker is the central piece, and Simmons' pick reflects that reality.
Rob Mahoney added another layer to the discussion by pointing to the scale of Booker's contract and the challenge of building around him if he is the number one offensive option. That is not a knock on Booker so much as a reminder of the pressure that comes with being the face of a team in win-now mode. Phoenix does not need a mystery about who matters most. It needs Booker to be exactly what Simmons described: the obvious first option, with the confidence to take even more shots when the season starts.
