Devin Booker on being surrounded by young players on Suns
Devin Booker, once a young phenom, is now a veteran surrounded by young players: “It’s a lot of jokes.”
- Jalen Green scored 29 points in his Phoenix Suns debut after missing the first eight games of the season.
- Former Suns guard Bradley Beal was booed by Phoenix fans and scored only five points in his return.
No one enjoys basketball more than Jalen Green.
It was easy to see from the baseline of Matchup Mortgage Center where I stood to watch the Phoenix Suns warm up before their 115-102 win over the LA Clippers on Nov. 6. It was Green’s first action of the season and his first game as a member of the Phoenix Suns.
“Just to be out there, to see the ball go in,” Green said after leading all scorers with 29 points in 23 minutes. “There’s just amazing fans here. I could sense the energy in the arena from my teammates. Overall, just a great, great experience. Very wild.”
Green had played all 82 games in each of the past two years, so you know that missing the first eight games of 2025-26 has been grinding on him.
“It was frustrating, obviously,” Green said.
But once the game started, Green was out there smiling like a nerd on the first day of school.
He kept a possession alive with a hustle play, leading to an early Mark Williams dunk. He flicked in a finger-roll layup after toying around with Kris Dunn. And he glided past defenders, including Ivica Zubac — who looks more like a cinder-block wall than a basketball player.
Coach Jordan Ott liked what he saw.
“I think the spirit in basketball, you get too technical at times, too analytical, too data-based,” Ott said. “The spirit and the environment and the joy of basketball is often left behind.”
So, when a guy like Green hits a 3 and starts hamming it up, “you can feel it,” Ott said. “You can feel the energy … that’s what you’re trying to create, not only in games, but in our practices.”
It wasn’t perfect. On defense, for example, Green had trouble staying in front of anyone with a live dribble — or a live pulse. But he’s not on the court to play defense. Green is out there to destroy ankles and get buckets, in that order.
He was so geeked to finally be back in the lineup that when he was subbed out, he dapped up every last one of his teammates on the bench and probably a few people sitting near the sidelines.
New Clippers guard Bradley Beal wasn’t having nearly so much fun.
With James Harden and Kawhi Leonard out, Beal had the ball in his hands a lot. He was booed each and every time, all game long.
It was Beal’s first game back in Phoenix since departing for the Clippers in the offseason.
It took a second for fans to recognize him — they’d never seen him in uniform before.
Beal made about $1 million a game in each of his two injury-riddled seasons in Phoenix. (About 100 regular-season games with a contract that paid him about $100 million over the span. Sheesh.)
Beal’s contract took up so much of the team’s player budget that the Suns had to sign guys who didn’t belong in the NBA — and Beal, himself, hardly played! He became the symbol of the uninspired and unwatchable team that failed to make the playoffs.
Beal responded to the boos by missing 14 of the 16 shots he took, including a step-back, fade-away, fall-into-the-bench 3-point attempt that somehow hit the back of the rim.
That offensive atrocity came after Beal had pounded the ball into the floor for 15 seconds — while he was being guarded by the 7-footer Mark Williams!
He finished with five points.
Chris Paul was doing better than Beal.
This was Paul’s first game in Phoenix as a member of the LA Clippers since 2017.
He checked in with 4:01 to go in the first quarter and was cheered. Suns fans will always appreciate him for leading the team to the NBA Finals in 2021.
Paul immediately started complaining and yelling and directing and frowning.
Chris Paul is the last true point guard left— and maybe the last true point guard ever? He’s one of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball, but the guy is crankier than a rattlesnake with a hangover. (We miss you, CP! Wish the Suns could have gotten you back in the offseason!)
He played only 10 minutes.
Booker was doing better than Paul, but not even Booker enjoyed himself more than Green.
Book has an emotional range that swings from, “Are we winning a championship?” to, “Why the hell haven’t we won a championship?”
He approaches all of his time on the court as if he’s getting ready for Game 7 of the Finals.
Other guys goof off during warmups, like the rookie center Khaman Maluach. He was shooting one-legged 3-pointers from the corner behind the rim.
Booker, meanwhile, was practicing footwork like he isn’t a two-time Olympic gold medalist and All-NBA performer who scored 70 points in a game back before that was cool.
Green doesn’t goof off during warmups. (He laced so many 3-pointers that the nets needed to sit in the ice tub after the game.)
But he was dancing along with rap songs that play at a frequency inaudible to anyone over 25.
Booker does not dance on the basketball court; he especially does not dance on the basketball court when his team is below .500 early in a rebuilding season.
He likes playing with Green, though.
“He takes a lot of pressure off anybody,” Booker said. “He’s just a high-level talent who with opportunity and space can pretty much do everything.”
And Green looks like he’s having fun doing it.
Some people certainly enjoy playing basketball as much, but nobody enjoys basketball more than Jalen Green.
Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @SayingMoore, Instagram, @SayingMoore, and TikTok, @SayingMoore.
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