The Athletic: Devin Booker a Tier 2 player, Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green make Tier 4

There are levels to things, and The Athletic’s Law Murray recently placed 125 NBA players, including Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green, into five tiers based on star power, filling a certain role and more.

With Murray’s Tier 1 being “Cream of the Crop” players like Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, Booker fit in Tier 2 (Nos. 11-30), which The Athletic writer called “the All-Star stratum.”

The Suns’ franchise staple specifically was placed in Tier 2D, as each tier has at least A-C sub-tiers. Booker was grouped with the likes of Trail Blazers’ Deni Avdija, Spurs’ De’Aaron Fox and Cavaliers’ James Harden.

In The Athletic’s 2025 tier ranking series, Booker was a 2A player.

Murray gave his reasoning for the slight dip:

Booker has won just four playoff games without Chris Paul on the floor with him, and all five of Phoenix’s series wins with Booker have been against a team missing a star for all or part of the series (Anthony Davis, Jamal Murray, Kawhi Leonard, Zion Williamson, Paul George). That’s not to say that Booker isn’t a very good player. The Suns would be lost without him, as he is his team’s best chance for anything close to efficient offense, and he competes on defense. But he would benefit significantly from three things: a point guard who consistently helps him get easier shots, another star teammate at any position and a head coach who can stick around a while (Jordan Ott is Booker’s eighth head coach).

Booker, in his 11th NBA season, averaged 26.1 points (ninth in the league), 3.9 rebounds and six assists per game across 64 contests in the regular season.

The guard, who has often taken on the role of point guard over recent seasons, faltered in his second straight winless postseason to the tune of 25% from 3 (33% in regular season) and four turnovers per game.

Brooks and Green, former Houston Rockets teammates who debuted for the Suns last season following a historic seven-team deal, both found themselves in Tier 4, “Stars in Role.” It consists of players ranked Nos. 61-100.

The fiery Brooks was listed in 4C alongside 76ers’ Paul George and Knicks’ Josh Hart and Green in 4E with Trail Blazers’ Toumani Camara and Rockets’ Jabari Smith Jr., respectively.

Unlike Booker’s drop within Tier 2, Brooks rose from the lowest portion of Tier 4 (4E) due to his value to re-shaping Phoenix’s culture and career-high scoring and usage numbers.

“The Villain” has been making headlines off the court watching LeBron James get swept out of the playoffs and jabbing at Gilgeous-Alexander’s flopping tendencies, but Murray identified what he “happily accepted” with a change of scenery.

Dillon Brooks just became a starter on a third team that went from not being in the playoffs to being in the playoffs. On one hand, he happily accepted an outsized offensive role, and he was a 20-point scorer for the first time in his nine-year career while operating out of ball screens, isolations and post-ups. He guards with pride. But Brooks doesn’t pass, his shooting is merely adequate, he rebounds poorly for a forward and his overall defensive effectiveness has waned from his time in Memphis.

Health limited him to 56 starts and yet Brooks’ field goal percentage (43.5%) was a career-best and his 3-point clip of 34.4% provided enough of a spark to make up for some of his deficiencies highlighted by Murray.

In a The Players’ Tribune entry posted in April, Brooks made it clear he wants to remain in the desert to continue to establish what was unexpectedly built this last season.

“Phoenix is my spot. I want to set the culture here for 20 years. I want to retire a Sun,” Brooks wrote.

As for Green, his listing didn’t improve from 2025, and that was largely due to what he displayed in a limited amount of action (32 games, 27 starts.)

A lingering hamstring injury that kept him from building chemistry with Booker, Brooks and others was the primary reason that Murray dubbed it “a mostly forgettable season.”

His offense was relatively out of rhythm, with career-low percentages and free-throw volume. But Green’s defensive effort was better than it was in Houston, and Phoenix likely won’t hold onto its playoff spot without him.

Green’s offensive numbers weren’t all that different from his first four seasons with Houston, as he stuck to the status quo of roughly 42% shooting (42.2%) and averaged about two turnovers a game (2.3). His 3-point rate (31.3%) dropped more than four points from the 2024-25 season (35.4%), albeit with only 227 attempts.

Collin Gillespie, Grayson Allen make The Athletic’s NBA Tier 5

Suns guards Collin Gillespie and Grayson Allen each made the final tier, which featured players ranked Nos. 101-125.

Gillespie, who made Tier 5A, experienced a breakout year after being elevated from a two-way player the previous season. He had 58 starts with Green and Allen each missing significant time.

He capitalized on premium playing time to average 4.6 assists and a 40.1% clip from 3-point country, notably setting the franchise record for most 3s made in a single season (232).

The Villanova product drained eight 3s on two occasions, both catalyzing wins against the Lakers and Trail Blazers, respectively.

His impact whether in a start or off the bench for Phoenix is worthy of an extended stay, Murray writes.

Collin Gillespie should earn himself a multi-year deal with how well he played his role in Phoenix. He’s small and isn’t much of a scorer, but he has a nose for the ball, makes sound decisions and was one of 10 40% 3-point shooters (minimum 50 games) to make at least 2.5 3s per game.

Allen couldn’t get over a multitude of injuries, which mainly involved his right knee, and that is why Murray slotted him in Tier 5B. Though the 3-point specialist barely made the cutoff, it is improvement as Allen did not previously make the tier list at all.

Grayson Allen filled a variety of roles as a second-unit on-ball option, and while he showed more as a playmaker than ever on both ends of the floor, he also had his worst season as a shooter since his rookie year. Allen also missed 31 games and wasn’t healthy to begin the playoffs, and he’s 30 years old now.

As Murray referenced, Allen had his second-worst shooting season of his career (40.3%) as well as his second-worst year from 3 (34.9%). He appeared in 51 games (27 starts).

Allen was healthy enough to play in his 27th and 28th career playoff games against the Thunder. However, he couldn’t play enough minutes (17 and 21, respectively) to really make his mark and give the Suns a fighting chance against the defending champs.

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