Suns’ Booker 5th, Paul 7th in All-Star voting for West backcourt

Phoenix Suns shooting guard Devin Booker finished fifth in All-Star voting for the Western Conference’s starting backcourt.

Booker was fifth in the fan vote, fourth in the player vote and fifth in the media vote. The two-guard continues to have the respect of his peers, as he was only three player votes away from tying Dallas’ Luka Doncic for third.

Doncic is a starter, along with Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.

Suns point guard Chris Paul was seventh. Paul ended up seventh in both the fan and player vote while being fifth in the media vote.

Both Suns guards have a good shot at making the team, as there are five clear locks outside of them.

The two reserve spots for guards will surely go to Portland’s Damian Lillard and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell. Lillard is keeping a shorthanded Blazers team afloat while Mitchell stars for the NBA-best 24-5 Jazz.

Three more additional frontcourt positions are open, where, again, there are three more locks: Jazz center Rudy Gobert, Lakers big Anthony Davis and Clippers wing Paul George. Davis is currently injured as well, so he could be replaced.

The two wildcard spots are where Booker and Paul could slide in. New Orleans’ Zion Williamson has the numbers (25.0 PPG, 6.8 RPG) but the Pelicans are 12-16. The biggest threat might be Jazz point guard Mike Conley, who has bounced back strong this year and there is a tendency for teams with a record like Utah’s to earn three All-Stars.

Outside of those two names, Denver’s Jamal Murray, Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, San Antonio’s DeMar DeRozan and the Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram all lack a clear-cut case over the Suns ball-handlers.

The NBA will announce the reserves, picked by the coaches, on Tuesday.

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