Suns, Devin Booker Get Honest on Shooting Struggles

It only seems like a matter of time before Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker snaps out of his shooting slump, but that time has not come in the past several games.

After averaging 31 points per game through Phoenix's first eight contests, Booker has since only averaged 22.4 points across the last 13 games while shooting 41.2% from the floor.

Following last night's 24-point performance in the Suns' 130-112 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Booker has now failed to score 25 points or more in the last seven games.

"I'm more hard on myself than anything," Booker said of his recent play postgame (via The Arizona Republic's Duane Rankin). "I'm still getting shots that I have to make."

Suns Need Devin Booker to Get Back on Track

There's no doubt defenses are throwing everything they can to try to get Booker off track especially with Jalen Green out, and he cannot seem to figure out how to beat the coverages against him consistently as he has done in the past and even the first eight games of the year.

Booker has still been creating opportunities with his passing, and the Suns (12-9) had been doing fine during the first nine games of this slump, going 8-1 in them, but now have lost two straight and three of four with the schedule continuing to be difficult moving forward.

The biggest struggle for Booker recently has been his 3-point shooting, as he is 13-for-64 (20.3%) from 3 over the last 12 games.

"'We've lost some playmakers. He's got to make every play, at least (be) that initial domino a lot (of times)," Suns coach Jordan Ott said of Booker after the Denver loss. "That's probably why he's not taking as many (3s), because he is trying to get the first one. But yeah, we'll continue to look.

"They're putting two on him ... and as soon as he gets in the arc, it's more than two, so he continues to make the right play. He only had one turnover tonight ... So yeah, we'll continue to look at it."

Booker went 0-for-4 from deep against Denver, but he knows he just has to keep letting it fly.

"I just have to look for my opportunities and there’s a few times that I got some clean ones," Booker said. "Just back to the fundamentals like the first few threes that I had tonight. They were close, just have to keep shooting.”

The Suns are still learning Ott's new system and plenty of players have benefited from it, but Booker is taking time to adjust to being Phoenix's lone star once again.

Phoenix next plays the Los Angeles Lakers (14-4) Monday and Houston Rockets (12-4) Friday, so Booker will look to get back on track against two more tough opponents.

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