Nike Book 1 signature shoe displays in Indy for All-Star weekend.
Phoenix Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker talked about his Nike Book 1 signature during a media session Saturday at NBA All-Star weekend.
Devin Booker knows what it’s like to be on a basement-dwelling NBA team that doesn’t get calls in its favor from officials, especially late in tight games.
That’s what happened on Monday to the Detroit Pistons, who have the league’s worst record at 8-49), when they lost to the New York Knicks (47-35). Detroit coach Monty Williams, who coached the Phoenix Suns the previous four seasons, wasted no time chiding the officials about it during his postgame media session.
The usually calm Williams was in rare form as he fumed for one minute about the officials not calling a foul on New York guard Donte DiVincenzo, which possibly cost Detroit a desperate win. Then Williams abruptly walked out without taking questions.
“The absolute worst call of the season. No call and enough is enough,” Williams said. “We’ve done it the right way. We’ve called the league. We’ve sent in clips. We’re sick of hearing the same stuff over and over again. We had a chance to win the game, and the guy dove into Ausar’s (Thompson) legs, and there was a no-call. That’s an abomination. You cannot miss that in an NBA game, period.”
As Detroit was up 111-110 under 10 seconds left, Thompson deflected DiVincenzo’s pass on the New York’s end of the floor. Thompson, a rookie, tried to grasp the loose ball and dribble up the floor. DiVincenzo went to strip the ball but dove into Thompson’s legs at mid-court. Thompson lost possession, New York All-Star Jalen Brunson picked it up, then dribbled back toward the basket, and passed to Josh Hart who made the go-ahead layup.
Williams stood on the sideline agape and his arms spread open in shock.
The officials’ crew chief, James Williams, later admitted in the game’s last-two-minute pool report that they should’ve called the foul on DiVincenzo.
Booker empathized for Williams as he’s coaching a young, losing team again being shorted by officials in a crucial moment. It parallels Booker’s fifth year when he played for Williams in his first as Suns coach during the 2019-20 season.
The Suns were near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. They were 26-39 until the pandemic postponed that season from March to July, and truncated the schedule thereafter.
Phoenix went 8-0 in the Orlando bubble and barely missed the playoffs, out for the 10th straight season.
“It’s a tough thing to do because I’ve been in those situations where you’re on a losing team and a referee might not care about this game for you guys tonight,” Booker said at practice on Tuesday.
“The odds are stacked up against you and you’re trying to fight for a win, and you’re doing everything you can, and it comes down to that. I’m sure the players love that, a coach standing on that and being out in the open with it. Those are the type of coaches you want to play for.”
Over his career, Williams has lambasted referees, or even his own team, during postgame media sessions during his Suns tenure.
The last time Williams memorably walked out of a Suns news conference after giving a bitter statement and not taking reporters’ questions was on Jan. 5, 2020, when they lost at home to the Memphis Grizzlies, 121-114.
“Until we learn how to play the right way and follow a game plan, consistently, we’re going to have these nights,” Williams said.
Last March 24, Williams was fined $20,000 by the league for his “public criticism” about the 46-20 free throw disparity after Phoenix’s 122-111 loss at the Los Angeles Lakers two days prior.
The Suns ranked 28th in FT attempts and the Lakers were No. 1 in that category at that time.
Like Booker’s sentiment about Williams, former Suns guard Cameron Payne (now with Philadelphia) said after that game, “I like the fact that he got our back.”
In the 2022 postseason’s first round against New Orleans, Williams was fined $15,000 for calling out the officials in a media session after Game 4 for the 42-15 FT disparity over Phoenix.
Williams led the Suns to the 2021 finals, then their franchise-best 64 wins and the No. 1 overall seed the following year. Williams was fired in May 2023 after the Suns’ second-straight elimination from the West semifinals.
He was hired the next month by Detroit as the highest-paid coach in NBA history to help rebuild their team like he did in Phoenix. That obviously hasn’t happened like his first year in the Valley.
Since Williams’ departure, Booker has repeatedly praised him for helping return the Suns to their winning culture.