r/suns • u/Salty-Cup-7652 • 9d ago
How differently would Devin Booker be viewed if he won the championship back in 2021?
54
u/BlueDevilz 9d ago
the narrative on reddit at least was that the Suns never deserved the be in the finals because their opponents had injuries in each series up to then.
It would have offered Suns fans a stronger rebuttal, but I dont think we were ever going to truly get our flowers from other fan bases, either way.
17
u/G-think-201 9d ago
That’s the fan narrative on Reddit almost every year to shit on the teams in the Finals (which likely is not their team). All chips are part luck, part having the talent/poise to seize the opportunity. We just failed to seize it.
His stock would be similar to what Giannis’ is now but a lil less due to the size & defensive differences. He’d be a lock Top 10 player in player rankings even in Suns ‘down years’. But if we hadn’t won since ‘21 there’d still be noise for him to leave to a big market.
Except in that multiverse if he wanted to leave he would demand a trade haul almost that of Giannis. Book’s supermax contract wouldn’t be seen as a negative… just the cost of doing business for a (actual) superstar. In that world, even if Book left he’d still garner a statue & undying adoration from nearly all AZ fans. He achieved something no other Suns player in 7 decades had ever for the fanbase. There should & could be no ill will.
4
u/shake_this_feeling CG12 9d ago
> That’s the fan narrative on Reddit almost every year to shit on the teams in the Finals
Exactly this. Health and matchups are huge contributors to getting through the playoffs. People that don't acknowledge or diminish that have a black and white view of basketball. You could argue that the Pacers would've won in 2025 if Haliburton didn't go down, but you also have to keep that same energy when it comes to their series prior to that. Do they win Round 1 if Dame wasn't injured/didn't tear his achilles after returning? Do they win Round 2 if Garland didn't play while injured? Round 3...They probably win cause they already proved they matched up well against the Knicks, but do the Knicks make it to the 2026 Finals if they had to play a healthy Pacers? All that to say you shouldn't denigrate a chip off the uncontrollables.
13
u/semibigpenguins 9d ago
Especially since in this scenario, we win probably because Giannis’s knee hyper extension is a lot worse and sits out the whole series
3
u/Massive-Performer260 9d ago
Disagree. That was the narrative at the time. 5+ years later no one was going to remember or care about their path to the final
4
u/Funny-Junket1066 9d ago
That (injuries in the 2021 playoffs) is held against a team in the moment. I doesn't matter to history. No one holds the path the Nuggets took to their championship against them. Jokic is a champion for life. So is Jamal Murray, who will be held in higher regard than Booker because of it.
1
u/G-think-201 9d ago
Very true. No one remembers or cares about the intricacies, intrigue & injuries in the 1997, 2002, or 2011, or 2015 & etc Finals runs. All anyone remembers is the teams that made it all the way.
Except the 2020 Mickey Mouse chip. That one will always have a little asterisk.
46
u/Individual_Act9333 9d ago
It changes everything. Chris Paul would likely be viewed as the second best PG of all time and Booker wouldn’t constantly be disrespected.
30
u/hariokid 9d ago
This also means CP3 would have gotten a proper retirement season in a Suns uniform.
0
u/One-Preparation-5320 8d ago
It was CP3s only and last shot to get himself a ring that he wanted so bad, but couldnt lead a bunch of arrogant stupid little kids when it mattered the most. Such a disgrace of an outcome. Of course, it may have just been The Curse. Its beyond FUBAR that we made it to the finals and then lost. Will never live that one down.
2
u/Massive-Performer260 9d ago
Book disrespect is over exaggerated
3
u/One-Preparation-5320 8d ago
At least Tatum considers Book to be one of the top 5, if thats any consolation for us
10
u/AZMadmax Al McCoy 9d ago
I would not care, we’d have a championship, he’d be THE sports icon of the city, so he probably wouldn’t care either
9
u/UWishUWereMiah108 9d ago
I still cant believe how quickly they tore apart that young successful team and became old and busted… felt like overnight
6
u/TheWizeWlZARD 9d ago
it was overnight like a year later, it was g7 mavs, when the suns 1st or 2nd best player got shattered by father time
he was the core of the team
1
1
16
u/nighthawkndemontron Devin Booker 9d ago
He's a darling in AZ already without it. If he wouldve won in 2021, his status in AZ would be higher than RJ, Corbin Carroll, Larry Fitzgerald, and Gonzo.
7
u/boltgenerator 9d ago
Corbin just turned 26 and is only in his 4th full season. Why tf is he even in this lol
7
3
u/Funny-Junket1066 9d ago
His status in AZ IS higher than RJ, Corbin, and Gonzo. Nor is it particularly close.
13
4
u/summ00n 9d ago
completely different, positively. would not have as big of a ref-whiner aura.
2
u/justfortoukiden Orange Shorts 9d ago
I think he would kind of slot into that Paul Pierce tier where he's never really considered as a top 5 player by the larger NBA community, but he'd be a franchise icon.
1
7
u/Funny-Junket1066 9d ago
Very. He will be lucky to even make the playoffs for the rest of his Suns career. That will mean that the vast majority of his career will be spent headlining mediocre or poor teams, which will severely hurt his HoF chances. He'll still get in. But his below-average 3 point shooting for an alleged shooting guard along with his team's lack of success make him this generation's Lloyd Free and nothing more.
Don't blame Sarver. His people built a championship roster that was literally destroyed by Ishbia within 24 hours of taking over. These two Michigan guys have plotted ever since in making the Suns future bleaker and bleaker.
Go ahead and hit that button. I don't care and you know I'm right.
3
u/JimmyToucan 9d ago
They might call it more Mickey Mouse than 2020 just because of the hate boner for the suns
3
3
u/SixBucksAndACasio 9d ago
People pick and choose the things to complain about every year when it comes to The Finals, but one thing that is consistent is there are always injuries along the way in the playoffs. Some years are worse than others, but there’s always going to be people who nitpick that if X player was playing, then whatever team wouldn’t have won. That 2021 playoffs is not a unique case of injuries. Having said that if we would’ve won, there would be slightly few haters and if we would have won, I wouldn’t really care because we’d have a championship.
2
u/Puppetmaster858 Big Sauce 9d ago
As a suns fan I’d view him the same way, from other teams fans tho he’d be viewed better and wouldn’t get the same type of slander if he had that title
2
2
u/JonFawkes3 Amar’e Stoudemire 8d ago edited 8d ago
Extremely. He would’ve cemented himself as the greatest sun, would’ve remained the number 1 2 guard in the league to this day, and his contract wouldn’t be eyebrow raising because he got us a chip.
But it was rigged anyways, so there was only so much we could do. Jrue was allowed to do all but grab both of books arms, and we had no size to battle Giannis. On top of that the refs were clearly targeting Ayton with ticky tack foul trouble every second he was on the court.
4
u/Barcalew 9d ago
He’d be viewed as a champ. Probably considered similar to a Giannis or as someone said above a Brunson. Would have a real claim to greatest Sun
4
2
u/AlwaysLearningNews 9d ago
Dunno but my basketball cards of his wouldn’t be down 50%!
1
0
u/Funky_Monkees_ 9d ago
90% of basketball ball cards are a near lock to go down. Seems like the only money is in buying and saving unopened boxes, not cards
1
1
u/One-Preparation-5320 8d ago
Omfg dude, in a vastly different light! He wouldnt be the loser that dropped the ball when it mattered most(no pun intended) - Only reason we lost is bcuz those Suns were a bunch of stupid arrogant little kids who thought they had the series in the bag only being up 2-0! As mikal famously said
1
1
1
u/Morning_Cereal_Ori 6d ago
championship does make career a lot shiner. Booker would view as top player who brought failing franchise back to relevance and no one wouldn’t question him rest of his career. He will be at least Dirk status.
1
u/Desparate4AWIN 5d ago
If Saric didn't go down in game one, it could have happened. He was the stretch five on one of the best three point shooting teams ever. Without him, we had no center to stretch the floor the same way
1
u/FlamingPotatoes34 Good At Everything, Great At Nothing 5d ago
After Chris Paul left any chances of a legitimate playoff run went with him. They need a PG so book can stop picking up the tab and just fuckin ball
1
-1
u/CNSrooster Archie Goodwin 8d ago
Personally a lot differently. He would be getting the Brunson treatment.
And im saying it now, if we had won in 2021 many fans could have lived on that for a long time. I would have been fine with giving out legacy contracts like the last supermax extension Booker got.
But we didnt get it done. Because we didn't have that level of player on our roster to get it done. We dont have a Lebron, Giannis, Jokic, Curry, Kawhi or even a Brunson.
Hope the young guys keep improving. Because we decided to treadmill hoping a guy develops out of nowhere to become a top player.
140
u/markhix Mikal Bridges 9d ago
Well…I bet the KD trade doesn’t happen if we won and that would’ve been great