Devin Booker holds Nike Book 2 pop-up event in downtown Phoenix
With his Book 2s coming out this month, Suns star Devin Booker held a pop-up store event on Jan. 11 in collaboration with Foot Locker in Phoenix.
MIAMI — The odds are stacked against Devin Booker making the 2026 NBA All-Star game in Los Angeles as a starter, especially when considering the fan vote.
The four-time All-Star finished 17th in the second fan return voting last week in the Western Conference with 232,075 votes.
“I see it, but at this point, it’s expected,” Booker said after the Jan. 13 morning shootaround at Kaseya Center as the Suns prepared to face the Miami Heat that night.
The fans make up 50% of the vote for All-Star starters regardless of position.
“It’s fan voting,” Booker said. “There are some super big market teams. There are guys from different countries that have a whole country behind them. I kind of understand the process, but am I playing better than a lot of guys? For sure, but that’s not the setup.”
The All-Star voting ends Wednesday, Jan. 14. NBC and Peacock will reveal the East and West starters Jan. 19.
Booker is nearly two million votes behind Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, the West’s leading vote getter and top overall vote getter at 2,229,811.
“Definitely doesn’t matchup with his body of work and what he’s done this season,” Suns guard Grayson Allen said. “It’s a little surprising from that standpoint, but that’s the fan voting. I’m a little surprised he’s that low. It’s not based on his performance that’s for sure.”
Booker is averaging 25.3 points and 6.4 assists this season in leading the Suns (24-15) to sixth in the West after being predicted by most to miss the postseason.
“He is the engine for our team,” Allen said. “Everyone knows he can score the ball, but this year, his playmaking has been great. Assists, hockey assists, everything, he is the head of the snake for our team. We’ve surprised a lot of people this year and being the best player on this team, we’re not successful without him. Maybe the team success will help him out. I don’t know. I feel like he’s done enough individually to make it every year.”
Current NBA players account for 25% of the vote for All-Star starters, while the media account for the remaining 25%.
Booker could gain ground with the player and media vote, but he’ll most likely have to make the Feb. 15 game at Intuit Dome in Inglewood as a reserve. The NBA head coaches vote on the reserves.
Booker has never been chosen as a starter. He was an injury replacement twice and voted in as a reserve twice by league head coaches.
Considering coaches game plan for players, receiving an All-Star vote from them means something, but Booker has a broader perspective on that, too.
“I’ve also not got in on coach’s vote, too,” Booker said. “We’ll see. We just worry about taking care of wins. We’re in a good spot right now. Everybody sees the standings where a bad week or a good week for anybody can change a lot. We’re taking It one game at a time. We’ve got all East teams till February. We’re going to handle business over there.”
The Suns are at the start of a six-game road trip.
Eight West players registered at least one million votes through the second fan returns in Doncic, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (1,998,560), Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (1,844,903), Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (1,554,468), San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1,321,985), Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (1,246,423), Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (1,224,109) and Lakers superstar LeBron James (1,059,855).
The All-Star game will feature, for the first time, two U.S. teams (16 players) and one international squad (eight players) in a round-robin tournament of four 12-minute games.
If the voting does not result in 16 U.S. players and eight international players chosen, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will select additional All-Stars to join either group to reach that minimum.
In that case, at least one team would have more than eight players.
International players can include American players with ties to other countries, if necessary.
Taking the fan return vote as a gauge in terms of potential All-Star international players, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, the leading East vote getter, Doncic, Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama are essentially locks to make it as a starter or reserve.
Houston Rockets big Alperen Sengun, Nuggets guard Jamal Murray and Avdija will likely be in the running coming out of the West for an international All-Star nod, while Knicks big Karl-Anthony Towns will receive serious consideration from the East.
Suns forward Dillon Brooks, who was born in Canada, may also be in the international All-Star running.
He’s averaging a career-high 21.2 points in his first season with the Suns and has been praised for having a huge impact on Phoenix’s success.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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