Devin Booker the past 2 seasons is averaging 32.3% on 6.5 3PT/A a game
Given his reputation as one of the league’s best scorers, is this one of the most shocking stats? Devin Booker is averaging 32.3% from three on 6.5 attempts the past two seasons.
He’s a scorer not a 3 point shooter
People conflate the 2 way too often. I’ve said the same thing about Trae young. They’re both capable but they’re overall scoring ability is better than their shooting. Trae young is an elite ball handler which drives his scoring
It’s like I always say in my local gym “I’m a shooter, not a maker”.
“My shot is textbook, the results aren’t”.
I think OP asks a fair question. It’s not common for that good of a scorer to be a poor 3 pt shooter in this era. I’m pretty surprised it’s this low. Thought it’ would be league avg at least.
Booker is obviously a great scorer, but IMO his real superpower is the second read: taking quick advantage of the opportunities that a real creator makes for others. This explains why he worked so well with Chris Paul (got within spitting distance of a title) and didn’t work with Durant/Beal (they’re scoring creators, not the guys who create advantages for others).
That’s true but he is definitely a jump shooter which is also why him being such a bad 3pt shooter feels even weirder.
honestly this is probably the first time ive seen him mentioned in anything this season, feels like hes dropped off a bit the last couple seasons
Feels like as his defense got better, his shooting has gotten worse
Pretty much how it goes for everyone.
Shooting while tired is hard and playing good defence is tiring.
He’s become much more of a facilitator so his numbers don’t look at as good
He’s probably a better overall player now
Felt like there was a sweet spot in 2023 that was better than right now. He was amazing in those playoffs.
He’s really good now at facilitating, but he definitely peaked in 2023
He has not had a 40 point game yet this season. I know he has been injured for a lot of it, but if he doesn’t have a 40 point game, it will be the first time since the 2015-16 season, his rookie year.
Positive Devin Booker posts get removed by mods on this sub.
I promise you nobody cares enough about the Suns or Booker to do all that.
I have had multiple Booker stat lines and highlights removed from this sub for no reason. But okay.
As have I
Jesus do you sound this condescending all the time?
there’s nothing positive going on.
There are players with zero name recognition that have done more this season than him. Are we supposed to clap for the toddler using his spoon?
such as?
Brooks has, and he’s high af. Murphy III, Castle, Bey, Allen, George. There are more. Those are low hanging.
what have these guys done more than booker lmao. booker is taking a team of randos to the playoffs. suns are 30-18 with him, 7-9 without him 🤣
Teams do not sag off on him at all. That should tell you all you need to know.
It feels like so many people in this thread don’t watch him. If he played in like a Luke Kennard type role I bet he’d be over 40% every year from 3.
I’ve also found this weird as he has a very fluid jumpshot but perhaps his jumper is best suited for the midrange due to the high release point similar to kobe and jordan jumpers.
But he’s been around 34% his entire career but at the same time no team really wants him to take wide open 3s or game plan around him being the open shooter.
Also he is way better on catch and shoots. Since CP3 left there hasn’t been that level of setup for him, so he’s shooting more off the dribble, which he really sucks and drags his % down.
Everything he does now is self created and in a league where PG has the most depth how have yall not solved this problem yet? He’s only played with CP3 but can’t really name another starting caliber PG the suns have had tbh
Gillespie is one. But overall if we’re running offense it’s unlikely Booker is going to be the spot up shooter in the corner
We had Rubio for one season right before CP3 but yeah, in general he hasn’t been paired with a floor general which is a bummer because it unlocks the best version of Book.
Does point guard really have the most depth though? I’m not sure I agree, this is a thing that gets said a lot but how many teams run a true point guard?
Regardless, Booker IS our offense this season, the on/off numbers are crazy last I checked.
Maybe not in the traditional sense but guys like Trae Young, Lamelo, Jamal Murray, Garland are borderline all stars at best. Heck even Harden isn’t even an allstar anymore and he dropping 24/8/5 rn.
But PG position has really developed into give the ball to the best offensive player on your team and let him run the show tbh… which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Edit: Maybe Giddey is a good fit? They seem to have complementary games
Would love Giddey (no way he is available), would also love Trae on a cheaper contract if it doesn’t pan out in Washington (might actually be possible in the future). We are just totally hamstrung on big trades for the next two seasons unfortunately.
Booker has always been just a fine shooter, like even in his better seasons he was at middling volume at 38ish%, now that he has less of a supporting cast and the loss of CP3 to create easy catch and shoots, his % has just not recovered.
38% is really good for a high volume scorer
Yeah 38% is good, but its fine when youre taking only 6 threes a game. Booker has never been an elite shooter like DMitch or Ant.
I mean dmitch is an interesting choice given he’s never had a season above 39% and has a career average of 36% which is quite similar to booker
Mitchell hasn’t shot below 35% from 3 since he was a rookie. He’s never shot an elite percentage, but he’s consistently shot a respectable percentage on great volume. Since 2020 he’s shooting 37% on nine 3’s per game. That’s clearly a level or two above Booker, who only has 4 seasons in which he shot above 35% and doesn’t have anywhere near the same volume .
Yeah but there are so many elite shooters to choose from I was just surprised at him picking dmitch
Yeah that’s fair, he isn’t elite
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He said “middling volume”. He was pointing out that he never took a ton of 3’s, even in the years when he shot a good percentage.
This is somewhat true - although Booker’s two most efficient seasons from 3 (2018 and 2022) are two of his highest volume seasons (seven 3’s a game).
“middling volume”
He said middling volume, not that the % is middling.
Dude is not a three point shooter. He is a three level scorer. Factor in he also leads the league in potential assists and you get the full picture. Dude is a scorer and playmaker that elevates his teammates.
How is he a three level scorer if he’s bad at one of the three levels?
So he is streaky/clutch enough to hit the three when he needs to. That causes defenders to have to close out. He then uses those close outs to initiate drives into the midrange where he is awesome. When he is in the midrange this causes defenders to get pulled out of the paint. He can take that mid or drive to the basket. When he drives to the basket he initiates foul calls. That’s how he scores at all three levels. It’s just ball.
I invite all teams to leave Devin Booker wide open from 3
the nba considers a shot “wide open” when the closest defender is over 10 feet away; according to this metric booker is shooting a tick under 33% when left open from 3.
Teams should stop guarding Devin Booker at the 3 pt line then, brilliant.
they should actually stand between 4-6 feet away, where he’s shooting even worse (slightly under 30%)
as a Suns fan I co-sign this. Devin Booker sucks, teams should stop guarding him.
even if his 3 point shot has fallen off the last couple years, whether it comes back or not it’s still a useful threat. a shooter’s willingness to take a 3 is actually more significant, when it comes to distorting defenses, than their ability to make it.
a good example would be joel embiid, whose shot is inconsistent at best, and more often than not he just does that half-hearted lift to draw his defender out from the paint, but even that creates so much space for him to work with. a lot more defenders genuinely shouldn’t close out so hard in the moment they’re caught out, but booker’s reputation as a 3 level scorer is valuable regardless of whether it actually bears out in practice, yep.
More like a 2.5 level scorer
Cos we can just say things. Gotta admit it sounds legit if you don’t think about it
TIL
I always assumed he was a great 3 pt shooter. Maybe bc of his first impression from college
He’s never been an elite 3pt shooter but for whatever reason he’s had that reputation.
Hes an elite scorer
It’s quite common knowledge nowadays that Book is a below average shooter in the regular season
It’s Trae Young disease. Both are good shooters but if they’re forced to do and create everything, their %s won’t reflect that.
It really makes you appreciate Steph Curry even more.
But curry doesn’t create that much for himself
He does indirectly
Much of Draymond’s on-ball playmaking is a function of Curry’s positioning and being double teamed
Steph wasn’t running more than anyone else in the league off ball to create for other people lol
Running around screens to catch the ball isn’t creating for yourself lol
Sure, but that’s not what he did. Bro was running full circles around the court full speed to create space to get the ball and shoot it. I dont really know why that wouldn’t be considered creating, and I really dont know why that wouldn’t count in a discussion about players with taxing workloads impacting their efficiency
That’s not creating for yourself in basketball. Not saying it’s not hard.
That’s fair I was generalizing but just pointing out that lead guards have a harder time keeping percentages than a guy who’s just standing in the corner hitting catch and shoot threes.
What’s his % on catch and shoot vs pull ups? I’d guess it’s bc he is the main ball handler now, no one is letting d book wide open for a three.
Interesting he has elite touch, is contest monster, yet below average in games.
He’s doubled all game but still needs to keep the defense honest. Also Ott wants the Suns to take the most 3s in the league
It’s because most of his 3’s these days are off the dribble and not catch and shoot due to being the number 1 option.
I think he has had to create more opportunities to shoot the 3 over the past year than he did before. Chris Paul was probably responsible for 2-3 open looks per game.
Surprising considering he shot 55% from 3 in a Klay Thompson role in the olympics a couple years ago. I know those shots were much more open, but I’d still expect him to be closer to league average, if not above it.
The Olympics use the FIBA 3 point line, which is more than a foot closer
Still not as bad as Paolo
lol that’s a sad comparison for Book.
he would shoot himself out of it and get back up to 35-36% if he wasnt so good at everything else
Why is it shocking ?
He’s really never had a great 3pt %
He’s got a mid-2000s to early 2010s style game. More of a pure scorer/mid-range threat versus a 3pt threat
Refreshing to see a no.1 option (no less a guard) attempt less than eight 3PTA/game in 2026
sga attempts only 4.5 a game
shhh narratives are collapsing over here
what do ya want for $73 mil a year?
I mean, they’re 30-18 when he plays this year with a rotation otherwise built on castoffs or guys nobody knew about coming into the year. If anything Booker has become underrated in the narrative landscape.
Curious, what’s their record in games he doesn’t play?
7-9
Wow that’s amazing, Book
It’s clear he is leaning more into a CP3 style of play than a Kobe style.
I’ve seen that too. He seems defer a bit to Brooks and Green a lot more than I would have expected him to.
7-9. He is the central cog in the machine.
That’s not what he is making, but okay.
Contract will look even better once the cap goes up
People laughed when I said Reaves is comparable to Booker 3 months ago
Compare their season stats side by side and give it another 3 months and see if it’s still funny
Because it’s fucking hilarious. Reaves is a streaky scorer he gives you almost nothing on defense and inferior playmaking. I get we all have rose colored glasses on for our own players but you Laker fans are delusional when it comes to AR.
Reaves needs another full season at this level before he starts getting compared to the lead scorers around the league. But calling him a “streaky scorer” is sort of underselling a guy that averages 24 a game on elite efficiency (65% true shooting).
You’re right. I was being a little unfair. My Laker hatred took over 🤣
This is the problem with only reading stats and not watching games. I promise you watching the games is way more fun than reading the stats afterwards.
Heretic!
They laughed at you because you’re being stupid.
It’s always a lakers fan with the most ridiculous takes. No one on planet earth other than lakers fans have this take. It is so asinine.
put booker next to luka and they are going to the finals. put reaves in place of booker and the suns are the 11th seed 🤣