Utah Jazz: Most intriguing individual matchups series – Pacific Division

Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker vs. Donovan Mitchell

I’ll admit, I was tempted to put this as Ricky Rubio vs. Mike Conley as it will be interesting to see how the former Jazz point guard, who obviously took offense to being replaced by Conley, will react when playing his former team and the guy who took his spot. I expect a major chip on his shoulder and potentially even a revenge game.

But when looking at the Phoenix Suns, there’s just no denying that the most intriguing matchup is the one between the two budding stars Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker. For whatever reason, several comparisons have been drawn between the two, sparking a number of heated debates between the opposing fanbases of which is better.

Clearly, when looking at team success, Mitchell has a stark advantage. And even though Suns fans will obviously defend Booker to no end, I think it’s safe to say that most fans, even those outside of the Jazz fanbase, would prefer Mitchell on their squad. He’s proven capable of shouldering the offensive load for a playoff team, executes on both ends of the floor and has a far greater impact on the game beyond simply scoring.

For the most part, Mitchell has gotten the better of Booker individually when the two teams have played, save for Booker’s incredible 59-point explosion a year ago. However, that game of course still resulted in a loss for Booker and the Suns, as he has just a 1-6 record against Mitchell.

In the most recent contest between the two, Mitchell put up 29 points to Booker’s 8. One of the best games of Donovan’s career came against Booker and the Suns in 2018 as Donovan posted 40 points on an incredible 73.7 percent shooting from the field whereas Devin put up 18 points on 29.2 percent shooting.

Because both are young, high-volume shooting guards that are considered the best offensive options on their respective teams, it makes sense that the two would be compared and that there would be intrigue in seeing which comes out on top. As the debates rage on regarding which is better, expect both to seek to up their game to an even greater degree each time they face off in 2019-20 in what could result in some incredible and high-scoring individual affairs for the pair.

Scheduled Contests:

• 10/28 Utah at Phoenix
• 2/24 Phoenix at Utah
• 4/11 Utah at Phoenix