Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and the master-student relationship that could lead the Phoenix Suns and Team USA to 2021 basketball glory
Chris Paul's veteran experience has the Phoenix Suns on the cusp of their first NBA title in franchise history, and his mentorship of Devin Booker could have positive ramifications for Team USA at the Olympics as well.
Basketball
It’s taken 16 years for Chris Paul to reach the hallowed ground of the NBA Finals. 16 gruelling years of basketball, punctuated by multiple All-Star appearances, awards, and agonizingly close calls in the playoffs, which were often hampered by critical injuries at the worst moments.
But following the Phoenix Suns’ 130-103 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday evening, Paul has finally broken through to the Finals and is now four wins away from a first championship ring — both for himself and the Suns.
To do that, Paul, 36, will have to use all of his basketball nous to guide the Suns and their young superstar, Devin Booker, through the battles to come. For Booker, the experience and basketball wisdom he has gained under the tutelage of Paul during the entire season could prove crucial not just in the upcoming NBA Finals, but on the Olympic courts of Tokyo as well.
Chris Paul: a basketball mastermind
Paul first entered the league in 2005, after being selected with the fourth pick in the NBA Draft by the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans). Over the course of the following 16 years, the “point God” (a reference to Paul’s outstanding play at the point guard position) would play for the Hornets, Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets, and Oklahoma City Thunder, before joining the Suns in 2020.
During that span, the 1.83m (6’0) guard won two gold medals with Team USA at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games.
In 2015, three years after Paul won his second gold in London, the Phoenix Suns drafted a young guard out of Kentucky by the name of Devin Booker.
Despite being named to two All-Star teams, Booker and the Suns had failed to make the playoffs in each of his first five seasons in the league. But the addition of Paul (alongside some other smart signings during the free agency period) in the summer of 2020 has proven to be the catalyst that has propelled both Booker and the Suns to the precipice of an NBA championship.
"I'm inspired by him [Paul] in so many different ways," Booker told ESPN's Malika Andrews prior to the start of the playoffs.
"It's bigger than the numbers with Chris. People have to understand, his effect isn't just his points and his assists. It's keeping people in line, leading every day. That alone should have him in the MVP conversation every single year."
Booker’s praise of Paul is nothing new. In 2018, three-time NBA champion and two-time league MVP Stephen Curry credited Paul with teaching him how to handle himself at the professional level early in his career.
"He was a great mentor when it came to understanding how a guy on his level prepared over the summer for an NBA season," Curry said following a Warriors practise, as reported by ESPN. "How disciplined he was, his work ethic, and I got to see that firsthand after summer league through the beginning of the season.
"He demonstrated firsthand what it takes to be great in this league, and it was a nice little eye-opener for me that summer.”
Indeed, it’s precisely that veteran experience and leadership that prompted Team USA director Jerry Colangelo to extend an invitation to Paul to join the U.S. squad for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021. And while Paul did consider joining the roster for what would have been his third Olympic Games, Colangelo confirmed that Paul testing positive for COVID-19 in June factored into his decision to decline the invitation.
Even so, Colangelo, Gregg Popovich and the rest of the Team USA coaches will surely hope that the guidance Booker has received from Paul — and implemented this season in the NBA — will continue on the international stage in Tokyo.
Devin Booker & Team USA
Booker, 24, is part of a relatively inexperienced (on the international stage, at least) U.S. men's team for the Olympic Games in 2021. Of the 12-man squad, only three players (Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Kevin Love) have past Olympic experience, while a further two (Khris Middleton and Jayson Tatum) suited up for Team USA at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
But the inclusion of Booker and other young stars like Tatum and Bam Adebayo shows that Colangelo and other executives at USA Basketball recognize that there is a new generation of basketball stars in the NBA that are poised to take over the league.
And with future Hall of Famers’ like Paul providing wisdom to these young players, it’s no wonder that many believe such a takeover has already begun.