The Phoenix Suns sit at the top of the Western Conference with the best record in the NBA as of March 3. The closest team to them, the Golden State Warriors, is 7-games back.
While the Suns are probably the hottest team in the association right now, they’re going to be playing the rest of the regular season without their engine and veteran leader, Chris Paul, after it was announced in late February that he would miss 6-8 weeks with a right thumb avulsion fracture.
Paul has been a major factor in the Sun’s upward ascension and his impact on the court will not be easily replaced. In particular, his playmaking ability will be hard to supplement, as he currently leads the league with 10.7 assists per game.
The clear option to replace Paul is backup point guard Cameron Payne, but Payne had not returned from his wrist injury until Mar. 3, meaning the Suns were without a natural point guard for the first three games out of the All-Star break.
While the Suns did recently trade for Aaron Holiday, it was Devin Booker who took over the majority of ball-handling responsibilities in Paul’s absence. In the Suns’ first game since losing Paul, they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder by 20 points behind 25 points and a season-high 12 assists from Devin Booker.
Cam Johnson stepped into the lineup that game, playing alongside Booker, scoring 21 points on 58% shooting. Holiday played 25 minutes off the bench going 5-5 from the field in a solid showing.
Coach Monty Williams used the same lineup in their next game against the Pelicans, utilizing Booker as the primary ball-handler. Booker again played well, not picking up as many assists but scoring 30 points in 37 minutes.
Elfrid Payton came off the bench playing 14 minutes but the majority of the game was Booker’s to run. Despite the good scoring night for Booker, the Suns would lose by 15 points that night.
In the team’s third game without Paul, the Suns fell to the Jazz 118-114, making it the first time the Suns had dropped two in a row since late December.
The same lineup from the previous two games started and Booker once again led the team with 30 points in 40 minutes. In the first three games with Booker as primary ball-handler his work-load heavily increased, averaging 38 minutes per game, compared to his season of 34.4 minutes per game.
Cam Johnson played 35 mins that game, scoring 23 points on 64% shooting, while Holiday got some minutes off the bench as well.
Many pinned this loss on Jae Crowder after he threw the ball out of bounds down by three with 2.1 seconds, but two losses in the first three games without Paul was not a good sign.
Cameron Payne would return from his injury the next game, which likely would’ve pushed Booker back to the shooting guard slot and Cam Johnson back to the bench, but then it was announced Booker had entered into health and safety protocols, leaving Williams with more lineup changes to make.
In the Suns’ fourth game without Paul, against the Portland Trailblazers, Cam Johnson returned to the bench after averaging almost 20 points per game on 53% shooting as a starter. Payne stepped into the starting point guard role, as expected, and Landry Shamet started at shooting guard.
The Suns would end the skid, beating the Trailblazers by 30 points. Cam Johnson was the team’s highest scorer with 20 points off the bench, while Shamet scored 12 points as a starter. Payne only played 20 minutes, given it was his first game back, but he established a good pace for the offense and dished out 8 assists.
Holiday also played the most he has in a Suns uniform, scoring 9 points along with 9 assists in 28 minutes.
With Payne back healthy he will take on Paul’s role, becoming the team’s lead playmaker, while it looks like Holiday could step in as the backup. Payne has shown everyone he’s a more than capable ball-handler, averaging 10 points and just under 4 assists per game off the bench this season.
More interestingly will be the decision of the shooting guard. Williams could continue with Shamet in that spot until Booker is back, or he could always bring Johnson back into the lineup given his performances as of late.
With the NBA’s shortened quarantine time, Booker likely won’t be out long, meaning for the final stretch of the season, Payne and Booker will likely be the starting duo.
While Paul’s leadership and offensive output are unlikely to be matched, Payne is one of the more trusted backup guards in the league.
“It just settles our team in many ways,” Williams said after the Jazz game. “It settles the rotation. His juice is something we saw in the bubble when we first got him, and it was a difference-maker for us…Cam brings a level of energy to the team that’s good for us.”
The Suns have already clinched a play-in spot so there aren’t many worries there, but people have questioned the team’s ability to hold onto the #1 seed in a stacked Western Conference without Paul. The questions less so fall on Payne and if he can perform and more so on who will take over primary ball-handling responsibilities when Payne isn’t on the floor.
The Suns’ ability to respond to adversity will no doubt be tested in the last five weeks of the regular season, but they’ve shown in the past that injuries and setbacks won’t stop them from leaving it all on the court every game.
