Devin Booker Falls In Top Shooting Guard Rankings

Devin Booker will have some work to do in the 2025-26 season to re-establish his place among the top shooting guards in the league.

After being considered as one of at least the top-3 shooting guards in the NBA the past few seasons, Booker was ranked all the way at No. 5 in HoopsHype's new top 26 shooting guards for the 2025-26 season list.

This is how the top 10 shaped out:

1. Anthony Edwards
2. Donovan Mitchell
3. Jalen Williams
4. Jaylen Brown
5. Devin Booker
6. Tyler Herro
7. Amen Thompson
8. Josh Hart
9. Austin Reaves
10. Zach LaVine

Last season, Booker was at the No. 2 spot in these rankings behind Edwards, followed by Mitchell, Brown and Williams.

HoopsHype's Frank Urbina wrote on Booker's ranking this year:

"At one time arguably the best shooting guard in the NBA, for 2025-26, we have Devin Booker slotted at the No. 5 spot for his position. We don’t exactly expect a regression out of him next season - if anything, his numbers could improve with Kevin Durant in Houston and Beal in L.A. - we just think some of the league’s other 2-guards have surpassed him.

"The fact that the Suns have been such a mess over the past few campaigns didn’t help Booker’s spot on this list, even if it is hard to blame the team’s poor roster construction on him. It’s just hard to believe a Booker-Durant tandem couldn’t make more noise in the postseason.

"The analytics haven’t loved Booker’s output of late, which is a bit surprising considering the four-time All-Star was one of just five players to put up 26/5/7 in 2024-25, though still noteworthy. If anything, the analytics think we’re being too kind with this ranking, as Booker was barely a Top 100 player in the league last season, per BPM, and barely Top 75, according to VORP. In fact, BPM had Booker as merely the 19th-best shooting guard in the NBA last year.

"Nevertheless, we won’t go that far, as we still consider Booker a top star at his position. If you replaced the No. 3 player on this list with Booker, for example, would the Thunder have been as dominant as they were?

"We think the answer is very obviously yes.

"But with so many great players at the top of this position, we had to make some tough decisions here. What’s more, Booker could easily make us look bad with this ranking, so we look forward to seeing how he performs as Phoenix’s unquestioned top action again."

This ranking comes as a little bit of a surprise, but with the Suns' struggles as a team with Booker as the leader and in his prime, it makes some sense why he is falling on some of these rankings with the success of the players ahead of him.

Where Did Jalen Green and Bradley Beal Place?

One of the Suns' newest members, Jalen Green, came in at No. 14 on the list after being ranked No. 9 last season. Here is how 11-20 shaped out:

11. Desmond Bane
12. Coby White
13. Dyson Daniels
14. Jalen Green
15. CJ McCollum
16. Anfernee Simons
17. Shaedon Sharpe
18. Christian Braun
19. Aaron Wiggins
20. Ty Jerome

Urbina said of Green:

"Projecting former No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green’s 2025-26 is no easy task. Not only is he joining a new team, but he’ll be joining a team with one of the league’s most established superstars… who happens to play the same position as Green.

"Green has enjoyed star-level stretches of play, including last season, when he put up 24.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists on 40.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc from early January through late February, a 24-game span. But his problem has always been regarding his night-to-night consistency and his efficiency.

"It’s also tough to see that getting much better next season while having to share so much of the offensive load with an actual star shooting guard.

"Regardless, Green has the slashing ability, the explosiveness near the basket and the tough-shot-making ability to someday be a star, so maybe playing with his new star teammate could help him reach the next level of his development, simply by observing how he operates on a daily basis."

Bradley Beal was ranked at No. 22 on the list, one spot behind Alex Caruso, a steep fall from No. 12 last year after a disappointing 2024-25 season with the Suns as he looks ahead to a new journey with the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Suns will hope the pairing of Booker and Green goes much more smoothly than it did with Booker and Beal, despite the positional overlap, as they look ahead to building for the future this season.