Pacific Notes: Booker, Brooks, Hayes, Miller

Suns guard Devin Booker isn’t getting any love from the fans in terms of All-Star voting. The latest returns have Booker receiving the 17th-most votes in the Western Conference.

Booker isn’t particularly surprised, even though he’s having a strong season. He’s averaging 25.3 points and 6.4 assists.

“There are some super big market teams,” he told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “There are guys from different countries that have a whole country behind them. I kind of understand the process, but am I playing better than a lot of guys? For sure, but that’s not the setup.”

Teammate Grayson Allen feels Booker is being slighted by the public.

“He is the engine for our team,” Allen said. “Everyone knows he can score the ball, but this year, his playmaking has been great. Assists, hockey assists, everything, he is the head of the snake for our team. We’ve surprised a lot of people this year and being the best player on this team, we’re not successful without him. Maybe the team success will help him out. I don’t know. I feel like he’s done enough individually to make it every year.”

Booker has made the All-Star team four times in his career.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

• Suns wing Dillon Brooks is one technical from a league-imposed one game suspension. Brooks picked up his 15th technical foul against Miami on Tuesday, Clutch Points tweets. Brooks’ latest infraction came when he shoved Heat forward Norman Powell (video link). An automatic suspension is issued when a player reaches 16 techs and he receives an additional suspension for every two technicals he receives from that point. No other NBA player has more than nine techs at this point.
• Jaxson Hayes had an MRI on his left hamstring on Tuesday, according to Lakers coach JJ Redick. Hayes told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link) on his way into the arena that he has experienced tightness in the hamstring for more than a week. Hayes, who played 19 minutes against Sacramento on Monday, hopes to be back in the lineup as soon as next game if the MRI comes back clean.
• Clippers two-way player Jordan Miller is doing his best to earn a standard contract. His minutes have spiked in the last five games and he’s averaged 11.8 points and 3.4 rebounds during that stretch, including a 21-point outing against Brooklyn and a 14-point performance against Charlotte. “I know what I’m capable of,” Miller told Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. “I played Summer League twice, got first-team honors, so it’s just like going out there and showing everybody like, ‘I belong here now.’ That’s really the theme of the year this year. It’s just like, show everybody you belong.”