Devin Booker has emerged as a late-season contender for this year's Most Valuable Player award. The whispers became even louder of late after the Suns set the franchise record for most wins in a regular season.

For Suns head coach Monty Williams, however, there is no doubt in his mind about Booker's credentials. The 50-year-old shot caller pointed out an intriguing argument about Chris Paul standing in the way of his teammate's MVP bid and Williams clearly does not agree with this narrative:

“How many guys with his numbers and our record weren’t the MVP?” Williams asked, via Mark Medina of NBA.com. “I’ve heard in Book’s case it’s because he plays with Chris. That’s kind of silly because Harden won one playing with Chris.”

Fair point from coach Monty Williams here. Chris Paul is indeed one of the greatest point guards this game has ever seen but it would be totally unfair to remove Booker from MVP contention simply because he has CP3 in his backcourt. As Williams said, this was exactly the case when James Harden won the MVP title for the Rockets back in 2018.

Williams, who himself appears to be in pole position for this season's Coach of the Year award, is not alone in his belief in Booker's MVP claim. ESPN's Stephen A. Smith is in the same boat with coach Monty as he too argues that Book, at the very least, deserves to be in MVP contention along with the likes of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo:

“Devin Booker is averaging 26-5-5,” Smith said on First Take. “Devin Booker is playing on the best team in basketball, who's virtually been the best team from start to finish. Devin Booker, in the 15 games without CP3, went 12-3. Devin Booker is playing for a team that is 7.5 games better than Memphis, and 12 games better than Milwaukee, Miami, or anybody else in the Eastern Conference.”

Smith also brings up an excellent point here. Many expected the Suns to falter when Paul went down earlier in the season but this simply wasn't the case. Booker took it upon himself to lead his team in the absence of CP3 and this led to the Suns maintaining their lead atop the entire NBA.

Even Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green believes that Booker deserves the MVP nod this season. The former Defensive Player of the Year discussed the criteria for judging individual titles and he too has a compelling argument about the Suns star:

“My MVP is Devin Booker. I think Book has been consistent all year. As good as their team has been, again we go back to the conversation, there’s no criteria–some years it is the best player on the best team, some years it’s … you know … Russell Westbrook whose team’s in sixth place but he won. Don’t get me wrong, he deserved to win, but you all just wonder what’s the criteria,” Green said on his show.

“However, for my criteria, Devin Booker. He is the MVP of the NBA.”

Despite all these calls for Booker, however, the harsh reality is that he likely isn't going to win the MVP crown this year. There's no denying that he has been an absolute beast for the Suns this season, but by the looks of it, the MVP title isn't going to Phoenix this year.