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#3 Devin Booker's superstar status
Phoenix Suns' Devin Booker proved in the 2020-21 NBA season that his previous years, where he had great individual numbers but his team wasn't good did not define him. While some said that Booker's numbers were empty and simply came for being the best player on a bad team, he proved that he can be the best player on a great team.
In his first NBA Playoffs, Booker broke the record for most points scored in a player's first experience in the postseason, surpassing Rick Barry's tally from the 1967 playoffs.
Booker ended with 601 points in the 2021 NBA Playoffs, breaking the previous record held by Barry with 521.
The Phoenix Suns' shooting guard has now established himself as one of the best scorers in the game, though he had some rough nights in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. He still averaged 27.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.
#2 Chris Paul's leadership
As mentioned before, the Phoenix Suns had a priority heading in to the 2021 NBA Free Agency, and that was keeping Chris Paul and his leadership in Arizona. The 36-year-old point guard did sign a big, probably questionable deal to remain at Phoenix, but the franchise needed to stay heading in the right direction.
Paul joined last year to help the team enter the NBA Playoffs for the first time since 2010 and then reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1993. He had done something similar the year before with the OKC Thunder, when the team was not expected to even make the postseason and he led a young group to the NBA Playoffs.
Now, in his second year with the Phoenix Suns and the good chemistry they seemed to establish over there, the team could definitely remain in contention to come out of the WEst, even if it is not favorite to do so.
Paul averaged 16.4 points and 8.9 assists in the regular season, while making 49.9% from the field, 39.5% from three and a league-leading 93.4% from the free-throw line. In the NBA Playoffs, the Phoenix Suns' guard put up 19.2 points and 8.6 assists per game with 49/44/87 shooting splits in 20 games.
#1 Experience
As a unit and a nice mixture of veteran leadership and young, exciting players, the Phoenix Suns should have an even better dynamic in the 2021-22 NBA season. Even if they still fall short of accomplishing something similar to last year, the team could still be better than last year. The competition will simply get better for the upcoming campaign.
With Paul leading the team with a year under his belt already and young stars like Booker and Ayton having already tasted the highest stage of NBA basketball, the Phoenix Suns should definitely be on the right path for the 2021-22 NBA season.
A league-leading record in the regular season could definitely be on the cards, as other veteran squads could probably be focusing entirely on health and the NBA Playoffs. An overall young team behind Paul, the Phoenix Suns could again put up a solid regular-season and start from there in the 2022 NBA Playoffs.
Also read: "Devin Booker, his mid-range game is amazing" - NBA Academy India graduate Riyanshu Negi reveals he wants to model his game around the Phoenix Suns star
