Lonzo over Booker? Fan All-Star voting a revealing tale about branding

PHOENIX — Devin Booker hopes to become the first Suns player in an All-Star Game since Steve Nash represented the team in 2012. Although landing on an All-Star roster and having the respect of others in the NBA is a big deal, a bigger issue is at hand: Booker’s brand.

“(Booker) plays in an era where brand isn’t solely based on your ability and play on the court,” said Vijay Setlur, a sports marketing instructor who teaches at the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Booker’s last chance comes Tuesday when All-Star reserves will be named.

Booker has been praised by his peers around the league and has been pegged as a future star by players such as Lebron James. The respect translated to a fourth-place finish in the Western Conference backcourt voting by fellow NBA players. But fans selected him 10th, four spots behind the Los Angeles Lakers’ Lonzo Ball.

Fans accounted for 50 percent of the vote while the players’ choices are worth 25 percent.

The media represents the final 25 percent.

The numbers suggest brand matters. While Booker is respected by players, who appear to care more about what is done off the court than on it, he isn’t supported as strongly from a national standpoint by fans. Ball’s numbers were the opposite as the players ranked him 13th.

Booker is averaging 24.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. Only three players in NBA history have posted similar numbers before the age of 22: James, Tracy McGrady and Michael Jordan. All three not only earned All-Star appearances based off of those performances, but were voted in as starters.

Laughing, Booker seemed impressed with being in the same company as players of that caliber.

“Those are some pretty good names, that’s really good company to be in,” Booker said.

While the starters are voted on by a mix of fans, players, and media, the reserves are selected by the coaches.

Booker doesn’t seem to mind the uncertainty.

“At the end of the day I’m just going out there and trying to get wins,” Booker said.

This is the first season of a new All-Star game format. In the past, teams were divided by conferences with the top players in the Eastern Conference squaring off against the top players in the Western Conference.

This season, however, the top player in each conference — the captains — will draft from the remaining pool of players selected, regardless of conference. The NBA is hoping this format will offer up a more exciting All-Star Game with the possibility of two players playing together that you would never see otherwise.

It’s easy to identify the brand of this season’s captains: LeBron James and Stephen Curry. James has been marketed as one of the best to ever play the game, while Curry has been marketed as a lovable sharpshooter.

Booker doesn’t have the same brand equity, a value on any particular brand that identifies how they are perceived by a consumer base, as James or Curry. The four factors that make up brand equity, according to Setlur, are perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand association and brand image, and finally, brand awareness.

Interim coach Jay Triano knows that Booker isn’t happy with the All-Star turnout. While Booker’s main focus is his team winning games, he still wants respect for what he has done so far in his career.

“When I coached in Portland, it was Damian (Lillard) and that was always his issue like, ‘I’m not getting the respect from the fans, I need to do more,'” Triano said. “He used it as a positive to try and create more for himself and turn it into, ‘I’m going to become a better player because of this, I’m going to prove people wrong.’ I think (Booker) has got that attitude, he’s got a real confidence.”

The All-Star game has long been a game of popularity. Players that may not deserve to play in the game are voted in by fans for reasons that are more than just their production on the court. In other words, their brand helps get them into the All-Star Game.

Take the 2016 All-Star Game, for example. The leading vote-getter that season was a retiring Kobe Bryant. He was named a starter for that game while Anthony Davis and Draymond Green were voted in as reserve players.

Was Bryant better than Davis or Green that season? Opinions vary. Looking only at individual brands, Bryant would win in a landslide.

When looking at Booker’s brand equity through three seasons, it is easy to see that he doesn’t have the same equity as most of the players that received higher fan votes.

Booker’s perceived quality, the first factor in brand equity, is on the right track. He is a scorer that can light up the scoreboard on any given night. His perceived quality is as a star on the rise.

The second factor is brand loyalty. How loyal are fans to Booker? Locally, they are, but nationally there is room for growth. If Booker ever leads the Suns to the playoffs, fans’ loyalty toward him will take a big jump.

As far as brand association and brand image, is Booker perceived as a hero or villain of the league? This factor is hard to establish with such little time in the league. In Booker’s case, he has done things in the Phoenix community but will need to do something on a larger scale to build that positive association around the league.

Finally, brand awareness is possibly the biggest factor in a player’s brand. Do people know who you are? To a die-hard NBA fan, Booker might be a household name, but for a casual fan who only tunes in for the playoffs or nationally televised games, he is less known.

It has been 50 years since the Suns became a NBA team. In those 50 years they have had 23 players represent the organization at the All-Star game.

Players like Charles Barkley, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Steve Nash have represented the team multiple times throughout their careers. They all had one thing in common: Their brands went beyond the reaches of the Suns or their on-the-court play. Six years after Nash’s brand earned him an All-Star nod, Booker is trying to do the same thing.