Damian Lillard shares his thoughts on Suns’ Devin Booker
NBA veteran Damian Lillard complimented Devin Booker as a special talent and a key player for the Phoenix Suns.
Damian Lillard and Devin Booker’s connection deepened during the 2020 NBA All-Star game and 2020 Olympics.Lillard praised Booker’s dedication and perseverance in leading the Phoenix Suns.
Devin Booker and Damian Lillard will forever be linked by the 2020 NBA All-Star game in Chicago.
Injury prevented Lillard from participating. He suggested having Booker replace him.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made the call. Suddenly, Booker was a first-time All-Star.
Booker has since become one of the game’s best players.
“I always thought (Booker) was a special talent, but I think when you make it to the NBA, you look around, you can look at each guy and say, that’s a special talent,” Lillard said, at his Formula Zero 2025 Elite Camp on Aug. 8 at The PHHacility in Phoenix.
“Then when you make it and you start making money and the organization gives you the keys as they say, that’s when you have a decision to make. Do I want to do the work? Do I want to be the kind of person who can take this criticism and take this pressure and have to perform even when I don’t want to and continue to work and deal with the losses that you take and all the things that come with it.”
Booker has indeed persevered through the ups and downs of being the face of the franchise. He led the Suns to the 2021 NBA Finals, is their all-time leading scorer, but endured a 36-win season in 2024-25.
Lillard wasn’t sure how Booker’s career would unfold, but he isn’t surprised about what the now four-time All-Star has accomplished.
“You’ve got to go through that, and you’ve got to be able to produce, and everybody is not able to do that,” Lillard continued. “Even the most talented ones. For him to be able to become what he’s become, I can’t say I’m surprised, but you just never know. I thought he was capable of it and it’s great to see that he’s done that.”
Lillard was in Phoenix for his camp. Created by Lillard and his trainer, Phil Beckner, who trains NBA players in Phoenix, the camp features the nation’s top high school talent, with three being Bruce Branch III of Gilbert, Javon Bardwell of Scottsdale and Cameron Williams of Phoenix.
“We did it one year in Portland and it was more difficult to get there,” Lillard said. “Everybody comes from different places. For me, I was like, OK, (Phoenix) is more convenient situation for everybody. I think coming here, the city, the layout.”
Prolific Prep’s Bruce Branch III (Class of 2027) of Gilbert for 3 at Damian Lillard’s Formula Zero 2025 Elite Camp at The PHHacility. pic.twitter.com/Re3wOAE1oJ
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) August 8, 2025
This is Year 4 of the camp.
“Phil trains here,” Lillard continued. “A lot of his staff are here. A lot of these guys come here from prep school. It’s becoming a basketball spot here in Phoenix. The coaches, the scouts, it’s just easier for everybody to be here.”
Beckner said the high school campers watched Booker film in the morning.
“His precision and his handle and being able to go from fast to stop,” Beckner said. “We worked with our handle with a lot of our kids (Friday). He’s good at that man. He’s special.”
The connection between Booker and Lillard goes beyond 2020 in Chicago and competing against each other. They were teammates on the 2020 Team USA that won Tokyo gold in 2021.
“Dame is family. Book is my favorite player. We actually watched a little Book film with the guys this morning.”
Damian Lillard’s trainer, Phil Beckner, on Devin Booker’s handles at Formula Zero 2025 Elite Camp.
“His handle and being able to go from fast to stop. He’s good at… pic.twitter.com/9WKL5vOjPh
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) August 8, 2025
Lillard and Booker will be forever linked to one NBA city in their careers, a rarity in today’s NBA.
Booker signed a historic two-year extension for $145 million to mark the highest annual salary extension in NBA history ($72.5 million per year), just edging Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander $285 million supermax extension ($71.25 million per year) for the richest ever.
Booker is under contract with Phoenix through 2029-30.
Some call it loyalty. Lillard sees it as being true to yourself regardless of where that is.
“He’s standing on his square about what he wants to accomplish,” Lillard said about Booker. “It’s not about what everybody else is doing. He’s standing on what he wants to do and who he is and I think that’s the most important thing.”
Lillard and Booker are all-time leading scorers for their respective franchises.
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Booker became Phoenix’s all-time leader Feb. 3 at Portland. He received a resounding ovation from Blazers fans at Moda Center during a timeout after making history.
“Shoutout to the Blazers organization,” Booker said after the Feb. 3 game. “That was a great gesture. I definitely wasn’t expecting it. So for them to go out of their way and do that, get acknowledgement and love on the road. Ideally I wanted this to happen at home, but for them to make that moment and do that for me, I’ll always have love for this place.”
Booker has 16,452 points in 10 NBA seasons, all with the Suns.
Lillard scored 19,376 points in 11 seasons with the Blazers. He was part of a three-team trade involving Phoenix and Milwaukee right before the 2023 training camp that sent Deandre Ayton to the Blazers and Jusuf Nurkic to the Suns.
Lillard spent those two seasons in Milwaukee with Giannis Antetokounmpo, looking to compete for a championship.
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He came up short, but the nine-time All-Star had already cemented his NBA legacy in Portland as he made the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.
Back in Portland, recovering from injury
His stint in Milwaukee ended in injury. Lillard tore his left Achilles in the first round of the 2025 playoffs with the Bucks, who lost the series to the Indiana Pacers.
Milwaukee bought out his contract, but Lillard landed back in Portland and signed a three-year, $42-million deal that includes a player option and no-trade clause.
Now, Lillard is back with the franchise where his NBA career began.
He’ll start his second stint in Portland on the sidelines.
The injury is expected to sideline him for the entire 2025-26 season.
“The history of it, people are like, man, that’s a bad injury to have, but I think with science and all of things that have come so far,” Lillard said.
Lillard had surgery back in May.
“I’m not running around playing basketball, but it’s a situation where it matters how your spirit is and what you surround yourself with,” Lillard continued. “Just being committed to the small wins every day. I get up every day, I go through PT even when it’s boring. I can’t really feel like it’s progressing. I still go and get my lifts in, get on the bike. Everything I can be doing, I’m doing.”
Lillard is progressing slowly, but surely.
“It can feel like you’re not having much growth and then, after a couple of weeks, it’ll be like, oh man, I’m walking comfortable. Then you feel like it’s not really changing and then after a couple of weeks, like, man, there is no pain. The stiffness is going away.”
Like Lillard, Booker was on a team with championship aspirations.
The Suns paired Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal with Booker for two full seasons, but they missed the playoffs last season after Minnesota swept them in the 2024 postseason.
Phoenix has since traded away Durant, bought out Beal and Booker is now being asked to lead a young team in a rebuild. Lillard has been in that position before in Portland, but he isn’t counting out any team in that situation this upcoming season.
“Looking at what’s happening in the NBA right now, it’s transitioning,” said Lillard, who noted the Suns reached the finals two years after winning just 19 games in 2018-19.
“Anything can happen. Anybody can get there and get it done. You got to be optimistic in that way, but everybody has got to be on the same page and care about the same thing and guys got to step up.”
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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