Dudley: ‘Devin Booker is going to be an All-Star, it’s only a matter of time’
Jan 24, 2018, 4:04 PM | Updated: Jan 25, 2018, 9:08 am
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) drives on Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon during the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 12, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
After scoring a massive 70 points against the Celtics in The Garden last season, it appeared that Devin Booker would be the next young guard to take the league by storm this year. The next step in Booker’s up and coming career would be to make an All-Star game. However, the 21-year-old guard will have to wait at least one more year.
Booker is averaging 25 points and 4.6 assists a game this season, but the Phoenix Suns are 17-30 and have the fifth-worst record in the NBA. Booker missed out on the All-Star Game as Western Conference guards Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson and Russell Westbrook were the reserves voted in.
“I know he’s young and the Suns have had a very, very bad record the last couple of years,” Suns teammate Jared Dudley said on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Bickley & Marotta Wednesday. “You don’t get rewarded for that.”
Dudley, however, says he believes the All-Star recognition will come soon enough.
“Booker is going to be an All-Star,” Dudley said. “It’s only a matter of time.”
Dudley thinks as the Suns improve, so will the star power of Phoenix’s 2015 draft pick.
“I think next year the Suns are closer to the playoffs, or in the hunt for that eight seed, (then) Devin Booker will make his first All-Star (game),” Dudley said.
This potential leap can be predicted from the jump that Booker’s former Kentucky Wildcat teammate, Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns, who is also in his third season, saw his team dramatically improve this year, as the Minnesota Timberwolves have the third best record in the Western Conference.
“Towns didn’t get rewarded last year, and he was a 20 and 10 guy, because his team was bad,” Dudley said. “His team now has won, and Jimmy Butler was a lock, and he got in.”
Booker also acknowledged the lack of wins being a factor when he talked to media in Indiana Wednesday.
“I’m going to work my hardest to get wins (because) that was the determining factor for me this year.” — Devin Booker on his All-Star snub.pic.twitter.com/9UohSL4ZAM
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) January 24, 2018
As Booker looks to grow into an All-Star, there are some aspects of his game that he will need to continue and improve.
“He has to trust his teammates,” Dudley said. “I know it’s tough because sometimes we let him down at times.”
