Phoenix Suns: Top 20 plays of the 2018-19 NBA season

18. Devin Booker with the grown man dunk in transition vs. Warriors

For most players, a dunk like this probably wouldn’t crack their top 10 highlights of the year. But Devin Booker has only dunked an average of 16 times per season since he first entered the league, and there was something about his vicious throwdown during Phoenix’s exhilarating win over the Golden State Warriors that stood out.

Maybe it was the fact that Book doesn’t get up like that often. Maybe it was how that play put the Suns up by eight points with under four minutes to play. Maybe it was the way he flushed it while mean-mugging everyone in his line of sight. Maybe it was all of the above.

Whatever the case, it narrowly beat out Kelly Oubre Jr.’s double-pump reverse dunk — an admittedly better dunk in a vacuum — for the 18th spot on this list because of the context. More of these Healthy Devin Booker dunks in 2019-20, please.

17. De’Anthony Melton drives baseline and posterizes Thon Maker

De’Anthony Melton’s minutes fluctuated a bit too wildly for a defender of his caliber, but the Suns rookie showed enough flashes for fans to feel good about his future in this league. The offensive signs of promise were harder to find, but every now and then, he did something that leapt off the screen.

Case in point: With the Detroit Pistons in town on March 21, Melton drove baseline around Thon Maker‘s hedge on a screen. As the Pistons’ big man tried to catch up, the 20-year-old cut back in front of him to attack the rim from the front, jamming it home over the 7’1″ rim protector. Much like most of Melton’s game, it was unorthodox, but ultimately pretty.