Devin Booker is still a star, but his game has changed — and this series proves it

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In a closeout game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Booker had 47 points and 10 assists. He scored 25 in the third quarter alone, hitting 10 of 11 from the field. That night he was a superstar on the rise. Kevin Durant called Booker’s performance “spiritual.” Today, Booker is a different player. Not necessarily worse, just different. Not as aggressive, not as willing to take over when the moment demands it. Anyone doubting this just needs to pay attention to how clunky Phoenix’s offense can become when he is not in the game, but this is not a new development. People here have waited for Booker to flip the alpha switch for a while now. To return to the player he was when leading the Suns to the NBA Finals in 2021 and to the league’s best record in 2022 and finished fourth in MVP voting. The fact that he hasn’t has produced many theories over the last three years. Booker deferred too much to Durant. … He plays better with a pure point guard like Chris Paul … He has logged too many minutes over his career. … He’d rather be Olympic Book, the perfect role player, than Killer Book. Phoenix coach Jordan Ott has been asked about this often during his first season, and in almost every media session over the last two weeks. After Booker dished to Jalen Green for a missed 3 in the final seconds of a Play-In Tournament loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, Ott said he experienced this during his time as an assistant. Should Booker have been more selfish? “So I was in L.A. with LeBron (James), and he would get all these questions,” Ott said. “I think you just got to make the right play consistently, and over time, that’s going to work out.” At Friday’s practice, after the Suns lost the first two games of this series, making Saturday’s Game 3 in downtown Phoenix a must-win, Ott was questioned on the subject again. What do you want to see from Booker in these next two games? “He deserves to have our full effort to try and help him put him in a place to succeed,” Ott said. “I’ve talked about it all season. Without his play-making and selflessness, we would not be here. I wouldn’t be talking to you right now. … We trust him with the ball in his hands.” You don’t need him to tap into that killer instinct? “Tap in? I think he has the killer instinct right now,” Ott said. “I don’t think that’s an on-off switch. I think he always has it.” Even so, it’s telling that through three games of this series, the only thing Booker has done to get a national reaction is call out the officiating. Upset over a bizarre technical foul in Game 2, Booker unloaded on the refs, particularly James Williams. The next day, the league fined Booker $35,000 and rescinded the technical. Booker’s reaction: “I read it as, ‘You were right, but you can’t say anything about it.'” In Saturday’s loss, Booker was again hounded by Oklahoma City defensive ace Luguentz Dort. He struggled to find a rhythm. Three minutes into the third quarter, he cut to the basket and tripped over Dort’s foot. Booker limped off the court and into the locker room but later returned to finish out the game. In the fourth quarter, Booker did not score in nine minutes, missing all three of his shots. He had only two field goals in the second half, scoring five points. Oklahoma City’s defensive game plan is pretty simple — control Booker and take your chances with Dillon Brooks (33 points), Jalen Green (26) and everyone else. It’s working. Booker finished with 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting. Over the series, he is averaging 20.3 points, shooting 44.7 percent. He is 4 of 14 from 3-point range. Although Booker limped to the postgame news conference, he said his ankle was fine. He added he did not know if Dort tripped him intentionally, and he did not care to discuss it much. “I mean, I don’t want to make it a thing,” Booker said. “It’s not the first time it’s happened, and it probably won’t be the last.” The Suns have one more chance to extend their season. Game 4 is here Monday. To win, they will have to find a way to slow Gilgeous-Alexander, seemingly an impossible task. Just as important, they’ll have to unlock Booker, their best player, who has yet to force his will. “We’ll take a look,” Ott said. “Again, it’s the same thing. They’re putting their best defender on him. They’re committing two to the ball. We got layups from that at some point. That’s the high-quality shots we’re looking for. It’s always something that we’re going to take a look at, and we’re going to balance. Obviously, we want him, just along with everyone else, to play well.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms