PHOENIX – The 2024-25 Phoenix Suns training camp is set to begin with Media Day 2024 on Sept. 30. With that comes the inherent player rankings and debates around the quality of individual players.
Hoopshype previously ranked Devin Booker and Kevin Durant among the best at their respective positions, but the overall rankings of 11th for Durant and 16th for Booker seem pretty disrespectful in the grand scheme of things.
Crossing @hoopshype Top 100 players for the 2024-25 season.
The Suns have three players in the top 100: Kevin Durant (11th), Devin Booker (16th), Bradley Beal (73rd).
Thoughts? #Suns pic.twitter.com/pKvaT5K9jG
– Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) September 10, 2024
Durant is coming off another stellar season, starting 75 of a possible 82 games. He displayed some of the strongest and most consistent defensive play of his career, along with continued efficiency in scoring and a relatively solid season as a point guard, averaging 5 assists per game.
It seems hard to justify Durant being outside the top 10 — even heading into his age-36 season.
Booker’s placement – 16th – seems even more sacrilegious, as Booker is a generally phenomenal player in the playoffs, had one of the most remarkable Olympic runs and remains one of the most feared offensive engines in the league despite a relatively disappointing playoff run last season.
Booker has been one of the strangest cases of a superstar player whose reputation is largely dependent on timing — one day it feels like he’s being placed in conversations with Jayson Tatum — and the next it feels like he’s being disrespected out of nowhere.
Ultimately, it seems fair to put Booker in the 11-13 range, as he has a track record and consistent production that a rising star like Victor Wembanyama has yet to boast, but he hasn’t been consistent enough to replace a legend like LeBron James.
Beal’s placement at No. 73 seems fair for now, but it certainly seems like the NBA world has forgotten just how good the second-year Sun can be — or is purposely overlooking him.
Beal still averaged 18 points per game while being a very willing defender in a season that was widely considered disastrous for him, whether he was battling an injury or not having a consistent role to fall back on.
It feels like coach Mike Budenholzer is the ideal voice in the locker room to maximize Beal once again — expect a resurgent season from the former NBA scoring champion.
The second season of the “Big Three” experiment is scheduled to begin Oct. 6 with a preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
