What’s behind Devin Booker’s “below-average” start?

Are you concerned? I’m here to tell you that you need not be.

Devin Booker. We love him here in Phoenix, and why wouldn’t we? He’s one of the rare NBA players who has stayed loyal to the team that drafted him. From the 2015 NBA Draft class, only Booker and Myles Turner are still with their original teams. Sure, you could include D’Angelo Russell, but let’s be real, he’s taken the scenic route through Minnesota, Golden State, and Brooklyn before finding his way back to Los Angeles.

Booker is the chosen Sun. He is one of only five players in Phoenix Suns history to play 10+ seasons with the team.

Season number 10 has been a strange one for both Booker and the Suns. They started off looking unstoppable, but both have since tapered off in a way that has sparked concern among fans.

I can understand the concern. I share some of that apprehension myself. It’s an inherent part of being a Suns fan, woven into our DNA. We can’t help but fall into the trap of despair during a losing streak. It starts to feel like the team will never win again or that the issues they’re facing are insurmountable. We are reactionary beings, despite the fact that it is mid-November.

Booker claimed the Western Conference Player of the Week honors in the second week of the season. But if you remove that standout week from his stats, it’s been a below-average season for the four-time All-Star. During his award-winning stretch, Booker averaged 33.7 points while shooting 48.4% from the field and 37% from deep. Outside of that week? His numbers drop to 23.7 points on 42.4% shooting and 33% from three. And this dip comes at a time when the Suns have needed him most, with injuries hitting the team hard.

What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?

What is the why? It’s simple: Booker is being asked to carry the team, and it appears he is physically tired from doing so.

You could see it last night in the second quarter in the Suns’ loss to the Knicks. After starting the game with a combined payroll around him of $32.1 million, and getting boatraced right out of the gate, Booker began to push it. He tried to get Phoenix back in the game. But this team looked like the Suns teams of yester-year, talented but unable to stop the opposition from doing whatever they wanted.

And Book looked tired.

He ended the night with 33 points on 23 field goal attempts, but the Suns lost by 16 points.

How do I feel by the end of the day? Are you sad because you’re on your own?

The weight of the world is being placed on Booker’s shoulders, and it appears to be too heavy at this point of the season. At. This. Point. Of. The. Season. This is where, while I’m not enjoying what I am seeing, I pivot. Don’t be concerned. Cautious, sure. Concerned? I’m not.

We are 16 games into an 82-game marathon. 20% of the way. Mile 5. Booker has been a little off? Yeah. He’s playing in a new system to start the season, and once he found his way in it he went off for Western Conference Player of the Week. And then KD went down. And then Beal went down. And Nurkic has been in and out of the lineup. Opposing defense most likely have two words written on their whiteboards before games: “Defend. Booker.” That’s it. That’s the game plan.

And you know what? The Suns don’t play again until next Tuesday.

“Yeah, I think it’s important time,” Booker said about the upcoming mini-break, “get the guys healthy and just regroup, coming with the same energy that we had to start the season and get back rolling.”

Thereare some things to be concerned about, sure. I’m not liking the energy I’m seeing on the defensive side of the ball. Effort on defense leads to easy offense, and what we are seeing on the defensive end — the team has a defensive rating of 121.1 since KD went out, 28th in the league — needs addressing.

But Booker? He’s fine, and he’ll continue to be fine. He just needs a little help from his friends.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.