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The Suns’ Devin Booker and Kevin Durant fall lower in ESPN’s NBA rankings

The Suns’ Devin Booker and Kevin Durant fall lower in ESPN’s NBA rankings

For the second straight year, Phoenix Suns superstars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant have both fallen in ESPN’s NBA rankings.

After cracking ESPN’s top 10 in 2022-23, Booker fell to No. 11 last season and again to No. 15 this year.

“It was simply a matter of team effort, as there were no obvious signs of a dip in his play,” writes Dave McMenamin.

His ranking has declined slightly due to team success, as he was eliminated in the first round last year from 40-point games in the 2021 Finals. But at 27 years old, he’s just scratching the surface of his prime.

Booker played in 68 games last season and averaged 27.1 points, 6.9 assists and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 49.2% from the field.

Durant also fell from No. 7 to No. 9 in ESPN’s annual rankings.

Why? According to McMenamin, it’s about the advancement of others.

While he could have been lambasted for the Suns’ disappointing playoff performance, it’s hard to blame the first-round loss on him after he averaged 26 on 55/42/82 shots in the four-game series against Minnesota. Scored 8 points. During the Paris Olympics, he once again demonstrated his continued excellence as the team’s third-leading scorer behind Stephen Curry and LeBron James.

Durant played in 75 games last season (his most since 2018-19) and averaged 27.1 points, 5.0 assists and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 52.3% from the field.

Meanwhile, Bradley Beal fell to 70th overall after finishing 37th last year.

Beal missed 29 games last season with back, ankle, nose, hamstring and finger injuries.

McMenamin wrote that Beal’s decline in the rankings was entirely due to his lack of availability.

Since the start of the 2019-20 season, Beal has missed 130 games due to injury – more than Anthony Davis (120) and close to Kawhi Leonard (161) – without his reputation suffering as much as two did. This drop in the rankings is directly related to his recent unreliability. If he can stay on the field and help the Suns reach their potential, he too will rise again.