Devin Booker deserves more MVP love
M-V-P. It’s an abbreviation used as a noun that’s defined as an accolade or award used in team sports to recognize one player for game-changing excellence. In the NBA this season, we’ve reached the point where we’re splitting hairs between the top Most Valuable Player candidates.
Joel Embiid has been a dominant force for Philadelphia. Nikola Jokic has been a maestro for the Denver Nuggets on his way to one of the best analytics seasons the league has seen. Even Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, and Luka Doncic have staked their claim for consideration throughout the season.
With all that said, there’s one team that has stood above the rest all season long. Even so, none of their players have been given serious MVP consideration from the national media. That team would be the Phoenix Suns and the player who’s owed that consideration is former Kentucky guard Devin Booker.
Phoenix Suns 2021-22 record
One of the key indicators for the MVP award is team success. While it’s an individual award, the success of your team defines how impactful your statistics are. Over the last decade, LeBron James is the MVP with the lowest win total with 46 wins in 2011-2012. That was the NBA’s most recent lockout season, though, so the Miami Heat still posted a 69.7% winning percentage. Remove that outlier and you have Russell Westbrook (2016-2017) and Nikola Jokic (2020-2021) with 47 wins. Both needed all-time seasons with Westbrook averaging a triple-double and Jokic having one of the most efficient years ever to win the award. All of that is to say that wins will firmly place you in the mix for MVP.
With that being the case, the Phoenix Suns record alone should put Booker at the table if not at the head. The Suns currently lead the NBA with a 60-14 record. The absurd 81.1% winning percentage has them nine games ahead of the next closest team in the NBA in the 51-23 Memphis Grizzlies. They’re also winning their games by a league-leading 8.4 point average margin of victory. It’s no exaggeration to say the Suns have been the premier team in the NBA as they’ve dominated any and all comers this season.
Devin Booker’s 2021-22 stats
With the Suns’ record in mind, it’s fair to justify that all that success can’t fall solely on Booker. Without Booker in the lineup, the Suns haven’t missed a beat with an 8-3 record in those games. Still, even through injuries to other players on the roster, Booker has kept Phoenix at the exact same level with his play. In what is his seventh NBA campaign, Booker is averaging a near career-high of 26.3 points per game, good for ninth-best in the league. He’s become one of the elite scorers in basketball with 1,659 total points this season, which is seventh-best in the NBA.
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Those numbers are paired with solid percentages of 46.2% shooting from the field and 37.5% from three on a career-high tying average of 2.7 makes from deep a game. As that premier-level scorer, Booker has posted two of the five highest scoring games of his career this season. He posted 48 points in a win over the Spurs back in January and topped it with 49 points in a win over the Nuggets on Thursday. For as much as he gets overlooked, Booker is posting numbers that only former MVPs have totaled.
Booker’s Backcourt Beef
One of the main things that will hold Booker back is backcourt partner Chris Paul. Since Paul arrived in Phoenix last season, the Suns franchise has made a full 180. Phoenix currently has a 111-35 record with an NBA Finals appearance over the last two seasons with Paul. When MVP voters do give the Suns credit, the main issue is determining who deserves more between Paul and Booker.
On Basketball Reference’s MVP Tracker, which uses a model based on previous voting trends, both Suns guards are in the Top-5. Paul ranks fourth on the list while Booker rounds out the first five names. Although voters will deep dive to determine which to vote for, Booker’s availability should push him over the edge. Booker has played four more games than Paul and kept the Suns afloat during Paul’s recent absence with a fractured thumb. In those 11 games, he averaged 28.2 points per game while the Suns went 8-3.
The talent in the NBA is at an all-time high. Justifying any candidate’s merit over another will lead to a legitimate debate. Still, a very simple precedent to win the award is to be the best player on the best team. In 2022, that title belongs to Devin Booker. With that case and his production, his odds and the overall narrative around his chances are a bit stunning. The Suns have their eyes focused on a much bigger prize, but the lack of recognition for Book in the MVP race is an outrage.
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