The case for Booker’s All-Star bid is a tough one this year.
The Phoenix Suns are sending just one player to the 2025 All-Star Game this season, not two. While Kevin Durant earned a spot for his 15th All-Star appearance, Devin Booker was left off the roster and wasn’t selected as a reserve. It’s a hot topic within the fan base right now. Was he truly ‘snubbed’ or not? The polls show a split opinion, and honestly, both sides have a case.
Was Booker snubbed?
— Bright Side of the Sun (@BrightSideSun) January 31, 2025
I believe Booker has a statistical case for an All-Star spot, but I’m not blind to the fact that this has been a down year for him. Has he stepped it up in January? Absolutely. He’s averaging 27.1 points this month, ranking 8th in the league. Lately, he’s been playing like an All-Star, but this isn’t about recent performance; it’s a season-long selection. And over the full season, Booker has been inconsistent. He’s stepped up to the 27.1 points per game from last year, but his slow start — at least by his own high standards — may have cost him a ticket to San Francisco on February 16.
Combine all of this with the fact that NBA talent is deeper than ever, and making the All-Star team becomes even tougher. Should James Harden and Jalen Williams have been the two reserve guards from the West? That’s definitely up for debate. I’m not convinced Harden deserved a spot. I’d argue Norman Powell had a stronger case. But at the end of the day, it’s a never-ending discussion over who should and shouldn’t make it. And across most national outlets, Booker isn’t even ranked among the top three snubs. That says a lot.
The discourse around this is getting out of hand. If you don’t believe Booker was snubbed, it’s treated as ‘Booker blasphemy.’ The endless posts claiming this fan base doesn’t deserve him are shallow and over the top. Two things can be true at once. We can love, respect, and appreciate Book while also subjectively evaluating his performance, especially in comparison to other players across the league.
@DevinBook btw 95% the reason you get snubbed from all star games is because the city you’ve been loyal to (not deserving), hasn’t treated you the same way back.
— Book’em (@dbookownsyou) January 31, 2025
Nah, Devin Booker is unquestionably better than Harden, and J-Dub taking a wild card spot over him is EGREGIOUS. Screw all the fake fans saying Book didn’t deserve to be there. Tired of the goals posts regularly getting moved for him. This fan base doesn’t deserve him. https://t.co/P5pDAd93Ax
— JustAnAverageJoel (@ParadoxicalJoel) January 30, 2025
“Fake fans”. Now, now. The fact that Booker is on the bubble should be enough to acknowledge that arguments can be made on both sides. Instead of outright dismissing opposing views or labeling those who hold them as “fake,” there should be room for a fair discussion.
Sure, the goalposts are continually moved. It’s frustrating. Subjective arguments are made with statistics that benefit each user’s case to add validity to the snub. Where you may see Booker’s numbers, I use the eye test, and I fall on the side that Booker isn’t playing at an All-Star level this season. Am I wrong? I could be. And I’m okay admitting that.
I think the vitriol comes from the long-standing narrative that Devin Booker has been disrespected. And there is validity to it.
Devin Booker is the most disrespected player in our league!!! Simple as that.
— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 24, 2021
When Devin Booker has played at an elite level but been stuck on a bad team, he’s been left out. Take the 2018-19 season. At the All-Star break, he was averaging 24.7 points and 6.7 assists, but the Suns were 11-48, and that wasn’t good enough for his first selection.
The next season, in 2019-20, he put up 26.8 points and 6.3 assists while playing in 52 of the team’s 55 pre-All-Star games. Still, with the Suns sitting at 22-33, he was left off again, only making it as an injury replacement.
Then came 2020-21, another season where he was only added as a replacement. His numbers had dipped to 24.9 points and 4.4 assists before the break, but this time, the Suns were 24-11. Suddenly, team success mattered more than stats.
“So have the goalposts moved?” we asked ourselves. “In past years, Booker put up better numbers but was left out because the Suns weren’t winning. Now, he’s on a good team, his numbers have dipped, and he’s still not good enough to make it?”
I completely understand the frustration of seeing Devin Booker left off the All-Star roster yet again. It feels like he’s stuck watching the ride from the sidelines, and I get why Suns fans are upset. This has been a recurring theme throughout his career.
But here’s the thing I don’t quite get about this conversation. While Booker doesn’t have terrible stats this year — he’s still playing well, no doubt — he doesn’t have great statistics this year either. And the Suns are the 9th seed in the Western Conference.
I’m not saying Booker’s a bad player at all. Please, don’t call me a “fake fan”. The fact that we are having this conversation is a testament to the standard he has set as a player in this league. But his stats are just good, and let’s face it, the Suns are a mediocre team at best. The history I mentioned earlier shows that when it’s close, coaches tend to favor players who are contributing to winning teams over those putting up solid numbers on teams struggling through the season.
Who is fourth in the league in scoring right now? LaMelo Ball? 28.2 points a game, you say? Oh, his team is 12-32. As a result, he’s not playing in the All-Star Game.
At the end of the day, I actually see Booker not attending the All-Star Game as a positive. It could spark that fire in him to prove the doubters wrong. Back in 2018-19, after being snubbed, he went on to average 31.0 points and 7.0 assists for the rest of the season. In 2019-20, when he made the All-Star Game as an injury replacement for Damian Lillard, he averaged 27.2 points and 7.1 assists. And after being snubbed again in 2020-21, he bumped his averages to 26.1 points and 4.2 assists.
Devin Booker’s post All-Star Game statistics in years in which he was snubbed:
2018-19: 31.0 PPG, 7.0 APG
2019-20 (injury replacement): 27.2 PPG, 7.1 APG
2020-21 (injury replacement): 26.1 PPG, 4.2 APG
2022-23: 29.7 PPG, 5.5 APG pic.twitter.com/gAm2AQLdjO— John Voita (@DarthVoita) January 31, 2025
So, what’s next for him this year?
Think what you will. Whether you believe he was snubbed or feel he deserved to be left off the All-Star roster, you wouldn’t be wrong either way.
Again, with the level of talent in the NBA, it’s not easy to make the All-Star Game. Kevin Durant is right in stating, “When I’m playing in 2K, they need an option in ‘My GM’ mode to add 2 more slots to the All-Star team, and I choose that every time. There’s so many great players that’s going out there and impacting their team in a positive way that’ll be snubbed”.
Talk about it, debate it, share your thoughts. But leave the whole “if you disagree with me, you’re a fake fan” shit out of it. This is a gray area, and we need to get better at having conversations in that space that don’t involve such a negative dismissal of those who don’t agree with us.