Ranking The Top NBA Players By Age: Age 19
1. Devin Booker
As the youngest player in the NBA, Phoenix Suns rookie Devin Booker is the biggest reason for fans to keep tuning in during this lost season. The Suns are hard to watch most of the time and sport an atrocious 17-48 record, but the play of this surprising youngster provides Phoenix with plenty of hope for the future.
Owning four of the top seven scoring performances among rookies this season (scoring at least 32 points in each one), Booker has thrived in an expanded role due to injuries to Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight in the backcourt.
Still, for a player who was pegged as little more than a spot-up shooter, Booker has displayed a more well-rounded, NBA-ready game than anyone was expecting.
The Devin Booker comparison to Klay Thompson comp doesn't look right anymore. I love Klay, but Booker's game has so much to it at age 19.
— Michael Gallagher (@MikeSGallagher) March 11, 2016
Heading into the season, he was third on the shooting guard depth chart behind Archie Goodwin and Sonny Weems; now he’s the team’s de facto starter and go-to scorer. He’s averaging 12.2 points per game on .435/.379/.839 shooting splits this season, but ever since Bledsoe’s injury gave him a more prominent role, he’s posted 17.1 points and 3.0 assists per game, which ranks third among rookies in both categories.
He’s already had a handful of memorable games for Suns fans to cling to like a life raft on these troubled waters. On Jan. 6, he had a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double in a win over the Hornets.
He set a then career-high 32 points on Jan. 19, had a 15-point, 10-assist double-double on Feb. 10 and then set a new career high of 34 points against the Heat on Mar. 3, earning high praise from Dwyane Wade in the process.
He was crucial to the Suns’ recent road win over the Memphis Grizzlies with 27 points and nine assists, dropped 32 against the Knicks on Mar. 9 and then set a new career high with 35 points the very next night.
Sure, it was an 18-point road loss to the Denver Nuggets. But it was also the second night of a back-to-back, and marked two straight games of 30+ points for Booker, making him and LeBron James the only teenagers in NBA history to achieve that feat.
Booker hasn’t been as efficient as he was to start the season, but that was too be expected with the dreaded rookie wall looming, not to mention the fact that injuries to Bledsoe, Knight and T.J. Warren and the Markieff Morris trade, robbed Phoenix of its top four scorers.
In six March games, however, Booker is averaging 25.8 points and 4.3 assists per game on .453/.343/.881 shooting splits. Plus there’s this stat, with Booker reaching four 30-point games now that he dropped 35 Thursday night.
Most 30+ point games before turning 20 years old (since 1980)
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) March 10, 2016
LBJ - 20
Melo - 10
Durant - 7
DEVIN BOOKER - 3
Kobe/Wiggins/Marbury - 2 each
Booker will need to improve on the defensive end, but he’s already proven himself to be an adept shooter, scorer off the dribble and playmaker out of pick-and-roll sets. Taking his licks at such a young age and accepting so much responsibility is only going to help him later on down the road.
The fact that he’s not only embraced this expanded role, but thrived in it, makes him unlike any other rookie in the NBA right now. He may not have the same kind of Sistine Chapel-esque ceiling that Towns or Porzingis has, but he has all the makings of an NBA star.
More hoops habit: NBA: 20 Players Turning Their Seasons Around
Considering he’s only 19 years old and is the youngest player in the league, the future is exceedingly bright for this Suns rookie.