PHOENIX – After leading the Suns to a perfect 3-0 record over the past week, moving Phoenix to a league-best 61-14 on the season, guard Devin Booker has been named the Western Conference Player of the Week for March 21-27, the NBA announced today.
Booker averaged 37.3 points in the three games on 58.1 percent shooting (42.9 percent from three-point range), 6.3 assists and 3.0 rebounds. Booker opened the week with 28 points and 7 assists in the team’s 125-116 win at Minnesota. In the win, Booker became the fourth-youngest player in NBA history to reach 11,000 career points, trailing only LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant.
A night later, Booker netted a season-high 49 points, to go along with 10 assists and 3 steals in a 140-130 win over the Nuggets in Denver. His 49 points are the most by a player who also dished 10+ assists in the same game in franchise history. With the game taking place on March 24, Booker, who passed Amar’e Stoudemire for sixth on the Suns’ all-time scoring list in the game, is now averaging 48.0 points in three career games on March 24, the highest scoring average on a single date in the regular season in NBA history (min. 3 games played).
The three-time All-Star concluded his week with a 35-point performance on March 27 in a 114-104 win over Philadelphia. Booker scored 22 of his points in the first quarter for his 18th-career 20+ point quarter, the third-most in the NBA since the 2016-17 season trailing only James Harden (22) and Stephen Curry (23).
This marks Booker’s sixth career NBA Player of the Week honor and his third of the season, having also won for the weeks of Jan. 10-16 and Nov. 22-28. Last season, Booker became the first Suns player to win three Player of the Week distinctions in the same season since Steve Nash during the 2006-07 season and is now the only player in franchise history to win the award at least three times in the same season in more than one season.
The Suns currently hold a nine-game lead over Memphis for the best record in the NBA this season, as Phoenix has already clinched the top record in the league and home court advantage throughout the Playoffs. Additionally, the Suns are one win shy of matching the franchise record for wins in a season with seven games remaining in the regular season. Phoenix holds a 30-6 record in road games this season, a better road winning percentage than every team’s home winning percentage, and is the only team in the league this season to rank in the top-three in offensive (2nd), defensive (2nd) and net (1st) rating. Led by Booker, Phoenix has been the NBA’s best team in the clutch this season, ranking first in offensive and net rating in the clutch and second in defensive rating, while holding the league’s best record in clutch games at 31-6.
