Suns’ Booker, Chriss and Warren make ESPN’s top-50 under 25
Feb 17, 2017, 6:09 AM | Updated: 1:39 pm
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) drives on Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, in Phoenix. Denver defeated Phoenix 123-112. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Karl-Anthony Towns. Those three are the future of the NBA.
No Phoenix Sun can put their name in that elite company when it comes to considering the best NBA players under 25 years old. But Devin Booker isn’t far off.
Three Phoenix players were listed in ESPN #NBArank’s top-50 players under the age of 25.
The 20-year-old Booker ranked 13th, just behind T-Wolves swingman Andrew Wiggins and Pacers big man Myles Turner, and ahead of Pistons center Andre Drummond and Thunder center Steven Adams. A stat to define Booker’s upside and youth:
Booker is averaging 21.1 PPG and is on pace to have the third-highest scoring average by a player in his age-20-or-younger season in league history.
Along with his scoring, Booker is averaging 3.2 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 43 percent overall and 37 percent from three-point land in 2016-17.
On the top-50 list, Booker is joined by two fellow Suns.
Power forward Marquese Chriss, 19, comes in at 46th on the list, and small forward T.J. Warren, the Suns’ 23-year-old starting small forward, is 48th in the rankings.
Chriss has started 44 games as a rookie, the second-most in his draft class, and is averaging 7.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Warren is averaging 12.8 points per game along with 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals while shooting 46 percent from the field.
Davis, Antetokounmpo and Towns were respectively ranked first, second and third in the exercise, while Sixers big man Joel Embiid and Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving round out the top-5. Kristaps Porzingis, Rudy Gobert, Nikola Jokic, Bradley Beal and Jabari Parker, close out the top-10 in that order.
