Devin Booker had a message for former teammate Deandre Ayton after the big man returned to face the Phoenix Suns for the first time since being traded to the Portland Trail Blazers over the summer. In a game where Ayton finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a block, Booker said after the Suns 120-107 win that he wants to see the former No. 1 overall pick play to that level every night.
"He played extra hard tonight," Booker told reporters. "I saw that, and my challenge for him is to play like that every night."
Ayton's consistency was always a talking point when he was with the Suns. One night he would look like the dominating big man many expected him to be when he entered the league, and other nights he looked lost on defense and uninvolved on offense. As a result, the Suns traded him over the summer to the Trail Blazers as part of the deal that sent Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks.
While Ayton surely needed a fresh start, he's struggled out of the gate with Portland. He's averaging a career-low 12.6 points, but he's still shooting an efficient at 57.4% from the field while also averaging over 10 rebounds a game.
Still, though, the physicality that should come with someone of his size just isn't there, and similar to his days in Phoenix he becomes uninvolved on offense for long periods of time. The fact that he's taken just nine free-throw attempts in 14 games is also just wild for a center who doesn't spread the floor.
But the extra energy Ayton played with against the Suns showed he has the ability to get back to where he was when he was averaging 18 points a night. But as Booker said, he needs to bring it every night, not just when he's playing against his former team.
