Devin Booker only received three third-place votes for All-NBA teams this season.

Now that’s two up from the one vote he got last season (from me) for third team, but becoming an All-Star this year and leading Phoenix to an 8-0 bubble run will put him in position to make a serious push for All-NBA honors next season.

Booker finished second to Damian Lillard in the NBA restart “seeding” MVP race and earned All-Seeding first team honors. Averaging 30.5 points and six assists in the eight seeding games, Booker hit a buzzer beater to stun the Los Angeles Clippers.

An on-site media panel in the Orlando Bubble voted for All-Seeding.

As impressive as Booker was, the “global panel” of 100 media voters couldn’t take the seeding games into account when filling out their ballots for All-NBA. The voting had to based on regular-season games through March 11, which is when the season was suspended after Utah Jazz All-Star Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.

Booker has often said team success will lead to him received individual accolades. When looking at the first, second and third-team guards, that statement holds true.

• All-NBA first team – James Harden (Houston) and Luka Doncic (Dallas). 
• All-NBA second team –  Damian Lillard (Portland) and Chris Paul (Oklahoma City).
• All-NBA third team – Ben Simmons (Philadelphia) and Russell Westbrook (Houston).

The Rockets, Mavericks, Blazers, Thunder and 76ers all made the playoffs while the Suns (34-39) missed out despite their unbeaten surge.

Like Booker, all six of those players were all-stars. Harden is an NBA MVP winner who is finalist for the league’s top individual honor.

Doncic is an elite talent and MVP candidate. Lillard reminded everyone how great he is with his play in the bubble. 

Oklahoma City doesn’t make the playoffs without Paul while the loss of Simmons showed in Philadelphia’s playoff fizzle.

Then there’s Westbrook.

He’s one of the game’s best guards, a league MVP winner, plays ferociously, but Booker has the talent, mindset and skill to become an NBA superstar.

Westbrook has had the better NBA career, but Booker is arguably a better player right now. 

Booker’s certainly more polished and versatile offensively than Westbrook. He still needs to improve defensively, but Booker’s now competing more consistently on that end of the floor.

Does that mean Booker should’ve made All-NBA?

No.

Booker had the lowest vote total among the guards behind Bradley Beal (Washington, 32 total points), Kyle Lowry (Toronto, 26), Trae Young (Atlanta, 13), Donovan Mitchell (Utah, 10) and Kemba Walker (Boston, 4).

Booker had three points.

Players receive five points for each first-team vote, three points for second team and a point for third team.  

All-NBA first team: *Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee, 500 total points), *LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers, 500), James Harden (Houston, 474), Anthony Davis (L.A Lakers, 455) and Luka Don?i? (Dallas, 416).

All-NBA second team: Kawhi Leonard (L.A. Clippers, 372), Nikola Joki? (Denver, 311), Damian Lillard (Portland, 284), Chris Paul (Oklahoma City, 199) and Pascal Siakam (Toronto, 168).

All-NBA third team: Jayson Tatum (Boston, 153), Jimmy Butler (Miami, 147), Rudy Gobert (Utah, 110), Ben Simmons (Philadelphia, 61) and Russell Westbrook (Houston, 56). 

*unanimous selection

Voters selected two guards, two forwards and one center for each team, choosing players at the position they usually play. If a player received votes at multiple positions, he’s slotted at the position where they received the most votes.

The seeding votes were for 10 players at any position from either conference. Maybe the NBA will adopt that model for future All-NBA teams. 

A deeper look at the remaining guards who received votes, Booker, Mitchell, Walker and Lowry were all-stars this year.

Beal was the NBA’s second-leading scorer to Harden and Young finished fourth.

Mitchell may perhaps be the best player in that group, though. He has a slight edge on Booker because he’s led the Jazz to the playoffs in his three NBA seasons.

Booker hasn’t made the playoffs in his five NBA seasons. He and Young are the only guards in the bunch who haven’t.

That matters to voters. A lot. 

When looking at that group along with ones who made All-NBA this year, Booker is going to have a tough time cracking through.

Winning can change all that, though.

Phoenix has great momentum going into next season. If the Suns wins big, like make the playoffs big, Booker will receive a boatload of the credit and likely make All-NBA.

He earned national respect for his play in the bubble.

The next step for him is to lead Phoenix to the postseaon.

He’s already an All-NBA talent. Winning will ultimately make that official.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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