Hey, here's Devin Booker using Suns coach Jay Triano as a ball rack

Dan Devine
·Senior NBA writer
Maybe you just see a pair of hands. But Devin Booker sees a coach willing to use those hands to support him. (Screencap via Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic)
Maybe you just see a pair of hands. But Devin Booker sees a coach willing to use those hands to support him. (Screencap via Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic)

Our old buddy Adrian Wojnarowski reported Tuesday that Phoenix Suns shooting guard Devin Booker would be one of the participants in the Three-Point Shootout next month at the NBA’s 2018 All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. That’s not the gig the third-year flamethrower hoped he’d have come All-Star Weekend, but he’ll take it, looking to improve upon the 2016 showing that saw him finish third behind Golden State Warriors stars Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry as a rookie.

Yes, Booker’s competed before, but it’s been a couple of years; you wouldn’t blame him for being a bit rusty when it comes to the unnatural movements of grabbing a ball off the rack and firing away from deep. It makes sense, then, that he’d want to start getting some work in in the run-up to his appearance at Staples Center. But it appears Booker and the Suns didn’t have access to the necessary equipment at Bankers Life Fieldhouse during a pre-game session before taking on the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night … which led Booker, and interim Suns coach Jay Triano, to improvise:

The next time you doubt Jay Triano’s commitment to giving his players the tools they need to succeed, just remember the time he let Devin Booker use him as a ball rack on a cold Wednesday night in Indiana. Just remember that.

We’re not sure exactly what it would take for Triano to merit serious consideration to stay on and have his interim tag removed this summer. You’d have to imagine “willingness to role-play as an inanimate object in hopes of slightly improving star player’s chances of winning an exhibition shooting contest” can’t hurt, though.

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Dan Devine is a writer and editor for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@oath.com or follow him on Twitter!