Shortly after the existential crisis that followed the U.S. team’s semifinal loss at the 2023 FIFA World Cup, four-time All-Star player Devin Booker offered to do the dirty work that the star-studded squad would desperately need at the 2024 Olympics.

Booker, who recently left the U.S. team’s gold medal celebration on a bicycle – his preferred mode of transportation in the narrow streets of Paris – has always had a knack for finding productive lessons in tight quarters. He did that way back for Kentucky, shooting 3s off the bench that earned him comparisons to Klay Thompson. This summer, he reprised that role for the U.S. team as an over-qualified 3-and-D player – establishing himself as a cornerstone of the program.

After LeBron James, Steph Curry and his Phoenix Suns teammate Kevin Durant — three legends who will likely be working on their golf full-time in 2028 — Booker had the highest cumulative plus-minus record on the U.S. team. He earned a spot in the starting lineup, shot 57 percent from beyond the three-point line and had the tournament’s highest assist-to-turnover ratio while also pressuring the defense and putting pressure on opposing defenders all over the court. “He was our secret MVP,” Steve Kerr told reporters after the gold medal win over France.

Things have been far less rosy for Booker in the U.S., whose Suns traded everything for Durant and Bradley Beal and have just one playoff win. In a few months, Booker will return to a revamped team with a new (read: real) point guard and a new coach with a proven offensive philosophy. The way Booker has seamlessly maintained his ability to pose a threat in Kerr’s system could prove instructive and inspirational for Phoenix.

The development of superstars is often marked by a rigidity that dooms them as too big to fail. Once a star finds a way to dominate, the machinery around him — the system, the coaches, the routine — resists change, fearful that tinkering will hamper productivity. Booker, one of the game’s best understudies, has never been that kind of superstar. He came into the league by mimicking Rip Hamilton’s off-court shooting prowess while developing a one-on-one game inspired by his idol, Kobe Bryant. But when the Suns traded for Chris Paul — one of the best pick-and-roll players the game has ever seen — before the 2020-21 season, it took Booker just a year to master the Point God’s reads and nifty tricks. When Paul was traded for Beal last summer, Booker took over point guard duties full-time, moving even further away from his roots as a motion shooter. But on Team USA, Booker drew on his past as a floor spacer, playing alongside and sometimes filling in for the player who would become his next muse: Steph Curry.

For most players, imitating Curry would be (and was) a futile endeavor, but Booker is one of the few with the will, skill and stamina to put their own spin on the chef’s recipes. What Booker lacks in pitch-warping appeal and logo reach, he makes up for in creative ability. Just a season ago, Booker scored an incredible 1.25 points per possession by taking advantage of blocks. And in the three seasons before Paul arrived in Phoenix, Booker was in the top 10 in distance covered on offense, finishing third in 2019-20. If Team USA was any indication, Booker can carry on Curry’s tactical legacy of doing the dirty work — running, blocking and dodging — in a way that accentuates his appeal and increases the effectiveness of his teammates.

That seemed to be the path Booker had taken, at least until Paul came along and the Suns offense traded motion-based egalitarianism for a pick-and-roll-heavy system based on the two pillars created by Paul and Booker. When Durant and later Beal came to Phoenix, new coach Frank Vogel – in his first and only year at the helm – relied even more heavily on isolation, in part because he was hampered by management’s assertion that a team with Booker, Durant and Beal couldn’t need a point guard. This idea was both a compliment to their skills and an attempt to mask a weakness in the roster.

Heliocentrism, which values ​​individual development above all else, is the simplest way to organize stars, but it isn’t always optimal when it comes to making the most of their talents. Booker finished last season averaging a career-low 1.3 possessions per game off the screen. (Despite the lesser talent around him, 2019-20 was the last time Booker made over 25 percent of his field goals at the basket and less than 50 percent of his mid-range shots.) Even Beal, who once trailed only Curry in possessions off the screen, largely erased that from his game last season. Instead, Phoenix ranked fifth in the NBA in pull-ups and shot the most long-mid-range shots. The Suns’ stodgy and isolated offense, despite its considerable talent, ranked just 10th in efficiency.

If there’s a silver lining for Booker, it’s that increasing his ball reps hasn’t hurt his efficiency. For new coach Mike Budenholzer — a believer in pace, space and pressure at the basket who taped off boxes outside the arc in his first season in Milwaukee to emphasize the importance of spacing — simply convincing his stars to step up on shots behind the arc and into the restricted area on drives could yield huge efficiency gains. The arrival of Tyus Jones and Monte Morris, two low-ball playmakers signed this offseason, should allow Budenholzer to unlock the dormant skills of Booker, Durant and Beal, all of whom have thrived off the ball at different points in their careers. Giving Booker some ball relief should also allow him to put more energy into perimeter defense, which the Suns need as much as Team USA’s aging starting lineup.

Overall, the last few years have been very successful for Booker. He mastered the mid-range shots that become so valuable in the postseason and became one of the league’s best playmakers. But he also deviated from the style that once made him money. Unless the Suns agree to sign one of them, Durant (unlikely) or (gulp) Booker himself, the top-heavy, salary-starved team will remain confined to its structure. Beal’s contract is a ball and chain, and he has a no-trade clause. Working on the edges and reinventing themselves from within is their last and best chance to salvage this bold, not-so-great experiment. Booker’s Olympic experience carries the kernel of a proof of concept for a Suns team built on integrating its basketball roots and its new skills. Sometimes the international stage can redefine a player’s game by placing him in a new context, but the Booker experience was a reminder that sometimes the past can be made new again.