Phoenix Suns: 2017-18 NBA season preview

Storyline 2: Breakout year for Devin Booker?

It sounds silly to say this about a player who averaged 22.1 points per game last year, but because of his defense, poor team record and underwhelming shooting percentages, right now, Devin Booker is still seen as a player putting up good numbers on a bad team — even though he’s only been in the league for two years.

Unlike Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis and Myles Turner, Booker is just outside of the “sure thing” category that some of his fellow 2015 NBA draftees are already in. However, even without that same unicorn skill-set, Booker appears close to putting it all together with a breakout year.

Though Bledsoe will be back on the court and Jackson will need touches as well, the Suns are well-suited to focus their offense around this 20-year-old without putting an inordinate amount of pressure on him to carry the load. He’s already the face of the franchise, and if he can be more efficient than his .423/.363/.832 shooting splits last year, he could conceivably put up 25-26 points per game.

Though Book won’t turn 21 years old until a few games into the season, he just averaged 22.1 points per game — putting him alongside Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal as the only players in NBA history to average at least 22 points per game in a season before turning 21.

The defensive end is where Booker needs to improve, and eventually, he’ll need to prove he can lead/carry the Suns to wins as this young core matures together. For the time being, however, that 70-point game serves as a pretty clear indicator he can get buckets, and you can expect that developing skill to put him in the national spotlight this season.