Following the Phoenix Suns’ 8-0 run on the NBA Campus in Orlando, the league announced today that guard Devin Booker has been named to the Kia NBA All-Seeding Games First Team and Head Coach Monty Williams has been named the NBA Coach of the Seeding Game
A panel of sportswriters and broadcasters who have been on site covering the 2019-20 season restart voted for these awards to honor top performers for the seeding games played from July 30 – Aug. 14. Booker was a unanimous selection to the First Team and he was the runner-up to Portland’s Damian Lillard for Kia NBA Player of the Seeding Games, earning second-place votes on 19 of 22 ballots. Williams garnered 20 of 21 first-place votes for NBA Coach of the Seeding Games balloting.
Booker led the Suns by averaging 30.5 points, tied for fourth most in the league after the restart. Booker scored exactly 35 points in four of the eight seeding games as he became the Suns’ all-time leader in career 30-point games on Aug. 11. On Aug. 4, he made his third career game-winning buzzer-beater to beat the Clippers and keep the Suns’ perfect record alive. During the seeding games, Booker increased his scoring average for the season to a new career high of 26.61 points, the second-highest single-season mark in Suns history.
Kia NBA All-Seeding Games First Team: Devin Booker
Under Williams’ direction, the Suns were the only undefeated team in “the bubble” as their eight-game winning streak put them on the brink of a play-in berth. The Suns ranked first in the league in Net Rating for the seeding games, outscoring their opponents by 12.9 points per 100 possessions. The eight-game winning streak is the longest season-ending streak by any team not to make the playoffs in NBA history.
Kia Coach of the Seeding Games: Monty Williams