Devin Booker gets lowest player ranking by ESPN in 7 years

It has been seven years since Phoenix Suns shooting guard Devin Booker was not ranked by ESPN as one of the 10-19 best players in the NBA, with the 2026-27 edition of the list breaking that streak.

Booker is 20th on the list.

Booker is one of the most malleable stars as the Suns have assembled various teams around him in recent years and yet, he continues to thrive. From teaming with Chris Paul to playing alongside Kevin Durant to now, having Dillon Brooks as a running mate. Pencil him in for 26 points and 6 assists, the ability to play both guard positions and playing through nicks and bruises. His 11 years in the league have been in the Valley, and he’s signed through 2029-30 — a rare one-team star.

In the six previous seasons, Booker was 16th, 15th, 11th, 10th, 15th and 17th, a steady placement that he still somewhat holds at the moment. Heading into the 2019-20 season, Booker was placed 30th.

The players to jump Booker this year were Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (17th), New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (16th), Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard (15th), Philadelphia 76ers wing Jaylen Brown (14th) and 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (11th).

Barnes, Towns and Maxey are a trio of players who made a major leap this past season, while Leonard and Brown are in that grouping of players Booker joins that are definitively not in the superstar tier but are still well established enough to not be outdone by some of the younger stars on the rise.

Booker has struggled to play at an All-NBA level the past two years, failing to build off his First Team All-NBA showing in the 2021-22 season when he appeared ready for ascension into that superstar grouping.

Instead, this stagnation will make it interesting to see if Booker has one more jump in him, or it will be some combination of holding ground at this level or some slight regression. Either of the latter will have that crop of rising young players threatening to surpass him, including Jalen Johnson (22nd), Cooper Flagg (23rd), Deni Avdija (27th) and Amen Thompson (31st).

In a testament to the league’s depth, Booker is still ahead of guys like Jalen Williams (25th), Evan Mobley (26th), Bam Adebayo (28th), Pascal Siakam (29th), James Harden (32nd) and Paolo Banchero (36th), Kyrie Irving (39th) and Anthony Davis (40th), players that have spent time in the past hanging around Booker’s range of the top-20.

Booker’s teammate Dillon Brooks was 76th on this year’s edition of the list.

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