Phoenix Suns: 3 big questions following 2019 NBA All-Star break

1. Can the Suns make Devin Booker happy?

Devin Booker has missed 15 games due to injury. His team has 11 wins, he’s constantly the subject of criticism as the star of a failing franchise, and he’s never sniffed 30 wins in his four-year NBA career, let alone the playoffs. So yes, it’s safe to say we’re already approaching a breaking point.

To this point, Booker has never said anything negative about the organization, nor has he hinted at a desire to leave. In fact, he’s had nothing but glowing things to say about the city of Phoenix and the opportunity the Suns have given him. He’s embraced the hardships of being a franchise player and has said many times he wants to be the one to lead this franchise back to glory days.

And yet, similar words were uttered by Anthony Davis, Paul George, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant and pretty much every other superstar who’s ever left a team hanging in search of greener pastures elsewhere. Don’t think for a second all this losing isn’t weighing on Booker’s mind, even after just inking a five-year, $158 million max contract over the summer.

Book said he was done missing the playoffs during exit interviews last year. He’s endured having four head coaches, two general managers and more than 50 teammates in just three and a half years in the league. He wants to win, but he’s had zero stability, structure or complementary talent to even begin learning how to do so.

The 22-year-old phenom is not without fault; he’s still deeply flawed as a defender, and his 3-point accuracy has left the Suns wanting aside from his 38.3 percent conversion rate last year. Even so, his rise from a former 13th overall pick and supposed spot-up shooter to the face of an NBA franchise is now being framed as Book being an entitled and overrated commodity.

Only time will tell if Devin Booker can become the face of a championship-caliber team, but he’s the best and only established asset the Suns really have. The reason this front office needs to have a sense of urgency this summer, the reason the pressure is on James Jones, the reason this organization’s dysfunction has become so alarming? They’re running out of time to convince Devin Booker that they can put a winning team around him.

Book may not have the same clout or track record as all of the aforementioned superstars who eventually forced their way out, but the Suns certainly don’t have the leverage here either, thanks to nine straight years of unadulterated chaos. They’ve got him under contract for five more years, sure, but if this circular misery continues much longer, it’s only a matter of time before another unsatisfied relationship ends in divorce.

Bearing all that in mind, it’s paramount that the Suns get their collective s**t together, and soon.

There can’t be any more 15-game losing streaks. There needs to be progress from the young core in these final 23 games. There needs to be a fortuitous turn of events in the draft, where the Suns don’t pass on a Luka Doncic or select another Dragan Bender. There needs to be a productive free agency period that actually flips the switch to winning like owner Robert Sarver infamously predicted before this season began.

Booker’s body language has never been worse, his play and effort are waning and the team is following his lead. The team’s entire culture needs a jumpstart following this much-needed All-Star break, and it needs to extend into a more urgent offseason, because the clock is ticking before this franchise loses its lone, saving grace and has to hit the reset button yet again.