Phoenix Suns: 5 Midseason Takeaways For 2016-17

4. Booker Back?

For awhile there, it looked like Devin Booker was experiencing the dreaded “sophomore slump.” Following a 2-for-13 dud against San Antonio on Dec. 28, Booker was averaging 18.8 points per game on ugly .404/.325/.822 shooting splits. The offense wasn’t getting him good looks, Watson was having him run too many isos and many of his shots were contested attempts from the midrange.

In the 10 games since, Booker has looked a lot more like the player who entered the 2016-17 campaign with all that preseason hype. He’s managed to bump his averages back up to 20.4 points per game on more respectable .422/.350/.833 shooting, and has been scorching hot over his last seven games in particular, averaging 28.7 points per game on .515/.486/.878 shooting splits.

That span has included tying his career-high of 39 points in back-to-back games — the latter of which was a three-point win over Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs.

Okay, so maybe it took a trip down to Mexico City for Booker to drop his 39 in back-to-back contests, but the three-ball has been falling, he’s been getting to the hoop a lot more and though 7-10 games is a small sample size, we saw Booker get hot a few times earlier in the season too.

The difference between those flashes in the pan and this recent streak is the consistency. If he can continue to string together this 20-point-and-beyond performances the way he has been the past few weeks, it’s safe to say everyone will forget about his early struggles in November and December.