Devin

Booker

Booker’s run of four straight games with 28 points or more ended on Friday, and he may not have been too upset about that. Others, most notably Bol Bol and Nick Richards, stepped up, meaning the Suns needed less scoring from Booker and Kevin Durant. He still dished out nine assists, so all wasn’t lost for fantasy managers. Booker and the Suns end Week 17 with a home game against the Timberwolves on Sunday.

Booker has now scored at least 28 points in three straight games. The 28-year-old point guard also dished out 10 assists on his way to a double-double. It’s just his second game with at least 10 assists in February and the other was also an overtime game. He’s had at least eight assists in five straight games and six of his last seven games as he’s taken on a bigger playmaking role with Bradley Beal replacing Tyus Jones in the starting lineup.

The Suns may have split their weekend back-to-back, but Booker produced two solid performances. The 31 points were the most in a game for him since February 7, when Book dropped 47 on the Jazz. Over the past month, he has provided top-20 value in eight-cat formats. Booker has been given more playmaking responsibilities with Bradley Beal replacing Tyus Jones in the starting lineup. Booker racked up 16 assists and four turnovers against the Bulls and Raptors.

Having shot 10-of-27 from the field in his prior two outings, Booker was more accurate with his shot on Saturday. And the 50 percent effort was needed for a sharpshooter who cooled off after torching the Jazz for 47 points on February 7. That said, fantasy managers didn’t have much to lose sleep over regarding Booker’s mini-slump. The more significant issue over the past month in nine-cat formats has been turnovers, with Booker averaging 3.6 per game. He’s committed at least three turnovers in six of his last 10 outings, including a nine-turnover night against the Timberwolves on January 29.

Though he was better in the second half, Booker really struggled before the break. He entered halftime with just four points and had missed all six of his shot attempts. He made seven of his eight free throw attempts in this game, which helped make up for his poor performance from the floor. Booker was also able to offset the poor shooting by continuing to have success as a playmaker. Booker has now had at least eight assists in three of his last four appearances. He’ll look to get back on track as a scorer in Chicago on Saturday.

Booker is available after sitting out Phoenix’s final game before the All-Star break, a February 13 loss to the Rockets. His return means Royce O’Neale will head to the bench, where his fantasy value takes a considerable hit.

Booker fell hard on his back at the end of the first quarter of Tuesday’s loss to the Grizzlies. While he did play 40 minutes, the Suns star will not play Wednesday due to a lower back contusion. With Grayson Allen (knee) also out, Ryan Dunn should play more than five minutes, as he did against the Grizzlies.

Booker still had a decent game Saturday and barely had over half as many points (24) as he did on Friday (47). The 28-year-old shooting guard was put in a tough spot against the Nuggets with Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Grayson Allen all out. No one else on the Suns could reach 20 points and Phoenix ended up losing by 17. They’ll look to get healthy next week with four games upcoming, starting with the Grizzlies on Tuesday.

Booker cooked all night inside the arc, hitting 18-of-33 shots from the field despite going just 3-of-10 from distance. He also knocked down eight of his nine attempts from the charity stripe en route to a game-high and season-high point total. He scored only 19 points in the Suns’ blowout loss to OKC, so Friday’s performance was a nice bounce-back effort. He’ll be asked to do it all on offense until his superstar teammates are ready to take the court again. That could come as soon as Tuesday when the Suns next take the court against Memphis.

Booker had scored at least 30 points in three straight games entering play Wednesday. He fell short of that mark and short of his 26-point season-average with 19 points Wednesday in the blowout loss to the Thunder. The 28-year-old shooting guard will look to bounce back in a great matchup Friday against the Jazz.