5 reasons the Phoenix Suns should avoid a Kyrie Irving trade

3. A Kyrie Irving-Devin Booker backcourt would be a process offensively, a nightmare defensively

When he gets going, Kyrie Irving is one of the most unstoppable offensive weapons in the NBA — a description that will soon apply to Devin Booker as well (if it doesn’t already). Pairing the two of them in the same backcourt would be an absolute nightmare for opposing defenses.

However, there’s no guarantee the two would develop the immediate chemistry needed to convince Kyrie that Phoenix could be his long-term home. Dumbing it down to “they’re both iso-heavy players!” is a bit much, but the two do need the ball in their hands to operate.

Irving has never been much of a facilitator, and though he’d automatically be the designated bucket-getter and best three-point shooter on the roster, his shot-happy tendencies would probably rub his young teammates the wrong way — especially Booker, whose development might be impeded by a shoot-first point guard without the distributing skills of his All-Star counterparts.

Booker has shown flashes of great court vision and promising passing ability, but he’s not a primary playmaker, nor should he be. To properly complement his emerging skill-set as a go-to scorer and spot-up shooter, the Suns would ideally find a point guard with a very different skill-set from Kyrie.

However, even in the best-case scenario where Booker and Kyrie learn to play off each other and develop their own version of “your turn, my turn” that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook mastered at times in Oklahoma City, the Suns’ backcourt would still give up as many points as it racks up.

Booker is still only 20 years old, so there’s still hope for him on the defensive end. At 6’6″, he’s got the length and the size to be a decent defender, especially with his beyond-his-years knowledge of how things work on the offensive end.

In defense of Kyrie, he’s at least passable in the postseason when it matters most, even if his effort throughout the regular season is nowhere near mediocre. Unfortunately, pairing the two together would be the makings of an outright defensive disaster.

Even if Booker and Kyrie combined for 50-55 points a night, their glaring defensive flaws would limit the ceiling of this star tandem, especially if a defensive helper like Josh Jackson were also shipped away in the deal.

Even with a potential designated stopper like Jackson though, that kind of backcourt pairing might only top off as a more offensively potent version of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum — two entertaining, high-scoring guards who may never find sustainable playoff success due to their nonexistent defense.

If it’s true that Kyrie Irving wants to be Batman and stop being LeBron’s Robin, he’s coming to Phoenix to hoist shots — something he already did in Cleveland at an alarming rate. He’s not coming to play defense or sacrifice like he’s had to alongside King James.

If he’s no longer playing second fiddle to anyone, that not only sends the wrong message to a potential franchise pillar like Devin Booker, but it could even alienate him if he’s not getting enough touches or if Kyrie’s shot-happy ways hinder his All-Star trajectory.

Is the potential stunting of Booker’s offensive growth worth it for a player who has yet to prove he can lead a team? The Ringer‘s Jonathan Tjarks might answer that question best:

"“The Cavs were minus-120 in 635 minutes with Kyrie on and LeBron off last season, and nearly half of those minutes (312) came with Kevin Love. Tyronn Lue could hardly afford to take LeBron off the floor in the playoffs: Their net rating plummeted from plus-13.6 with him to minus-13.8 without him. The Cavs had three All-Stars, yet were as close to a one-man team as they could be. “Kyrie ranked 40th in assist percentage and 71st in defensive RPM among NBA point guards, and if he couldn’t be bothered to play defense or share the ball when he was contending for a title, what is he going to do on a team that will struggle to crack .500?”"

Couple all of this with the unavoidable defensive shortcomings and suddenly the star-studded Kyrie-Booker backcourt doesn’t seem as glamorous as it looks on paper.