Devin Booker has ‘fun’ as Phoenix’s star trio shine in latest preseason victory vs. Trail Blazers

In the past years, the Suns haven’t lived up to the expectations put upon their roster, as they’ve failed to contend for the NBA title despite reaching the Finals in 2021. For this upcoming campaign, they’ve traded heavily into their squad, with Kevin Durant‘s mid-season arrival in February and Bradley Beal‘s most recent acquisition. 

If you add Jusuf Nurkic and Drew Eubanks to a squad that is already led offensively by Devin Booker, I think we can all agree that their starting lineup is scary. This preseason matches have been proof that the Phoenix team is set to have ‘fun’ this year, which was the word recently used by Booker to describe how the Suns are performing.

“Whenever we can get up one, the bigs are doing an incredible job of not letting guys shoot under the screens, they’re forcing to trail every action… It’s been fun,” the 26-year-old told reporters this Monday after beating Portland twice in a week.

Check out the video below to witness how much fun Devin is having stepping onto the basketball court next to his star-packed squad:

Zero Hesitation.

Devin Booker's hit 4 threes and has 15 points in the 1Q 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KuAuNw2wEW

— NBA (@NBA) October 17, 2023

“I think it puts pressure on the defense. A lot of the coverages in the NBA are drop coverage and I think that’s gonna be tough to do against us with some marksmen out there, people that can shoot the ball,” the point guard added.

Phoenix’s Big 3 collectively scored 49 points even though they only played together in two quarters, pushing their team to 76 points before the halftime buzzer ended their show.

“I think the unique part about us three (Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant) that we all have the capability of scoring at the highest level, but we have always played the game the right way,” Booker expressed after their victory.

Now the 26-year-old only hopes to improve their aggression before the start of the season. “Even when we were kind of not on our own teams but different teams, we still continued to play the game the right way. It hasn’t been an adjustment, for real. Only thing I tell them is to be more aggressive. Then that will open things up for everyone else,” he said.

Coach Frank Vogel says that he’s been part of ‘very few teams’ that share the amount of buzz and pressure around Phoenix

Ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, coach Frank Vogel recognizes the amount of pressure around the club, but explained that its natural due to the huge support and excitement from the Arizona fans.

“I would say that very few teams I’ve been a part of have the type of buzz around the city about our team than we experienced today,” the Suns trainer told the press. “I think they really believe in what we have here and we’re going to pour everything we got to get this done.”

According to Vogel, the influence that new majority owner Matt Ishbia has contributed to the team has been immense, as he believe that his support has been much more than just investing money.

“There’s a lot of owners that have the willingness to spend but the energy he brings to our organization is infectious,” he said. “It is consistent with how to approach things as a head coach.”