Josh Okogie continues to thrive in starting role with Phoenix Suns

All eyes within the basketball world were on Kevin Durant for his Suns home debut against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

But Josh Okogie, the team's fifth starter in a lineup of more well-known names, had a productive night for the Suns with plays that didn't always show up on the Footprint Center's Jumbotron.

Despite having Durant back, Phoenix still is Devin Booker's team. He had a team high 29 points and led all players with four steals in the win over Minnesota, adding to his remarkable 32.4-point per game scoring spree this month. Okogie's point total wasn't as gaudy, but his 10 points (4-of-10 shooting), team-best nine rebounds, two steals and one block matched Booker's game-high 12 plus-minus, which reflects how well the team did while a player was on the court.

The Suns are the West's fourth-place team, and won three of their four matchups against No. 7 Minnesota this regular season. After losing six of seven games between March 11 through last Friday, the Suns needed this third straight win as they're trying to build a cushion for playoff position. Phoenix is just 2.5 games out of the first play-in tournament spot currently held by the Timberwolves.

“When you play a team like that, you always want to come out with the win. That’s all that mattered tonight. So I just tried to go in the game to do the little things to help the team win,” Okogie said to The Republic after the game.

Minnesota was Okogie's former team before he signed a one-year deal with Phoenix last July.

Okogie's most versatile performance of late came Wednesday against the team that drafted him out of Georgia Tech in 2018. He played four years for teh T-Wolves before he signed with the Suns.

Okogie averaged 6.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, shot 27.5% from deep, and a steal in 20.6 minutes off the bench during his time in Minnesota.

“I love Josh. It was great to have him. He certainly helped us," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said during their pregame media session Wednesday. "I think they’ve got him playing in a really good role. He’s playing with a lot of confidence shooting the ball well.

"We know his defense, his hustle, we know his winning intangibles. I think when I look back on his experience with us, we have a lot of freedom in our system offensively, and maybe he’s a little better in a tighter role. Certainly, they don’t need him to do as much as was offered in our system, and that’s really suited him well.”

This season, he's producing a career highs 7.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists in 18.1 minutes this season. He's been starting for the Suns since February after he returned from a broken nose in the Suns' loss at Memphis on Jan. 16. That starting five also includes Durant, Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton.

Since he started wearing a protective mask, his numbers massively jumped in February and have slipped in March. He had 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.9 steals, shooting 50.6% and 46.2% from the 3 in February, and is putting up 9.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.9 steals, and shot 32.7% overall and 29.5% in March.

“I think it’s just a great opportunity for him. He always had what it took. He just didn’t have that chance in his past situation,'' Booker said. "He’s been big for us. I’ve matched up with him in practice and he’s a hound on defense. He makes teams pay that try to sag off him, lay off him, and him in transition is tough to spot, too.”

Even though Okogie's stats have declined this month, he's emerged as one of their best defenders this season. Okogie has the Suns' third-best 112.5 defensive rating, their team defensive rating drops from 106.9 to 113.6 and net rating slips from 5.5 to 4.9 when he's not on the floor, according to NBA.com.

“I’m always focused on the defensive end," Okogie said "The opportunities that I saw early, it was just that I never really think about scoring. I just try to do my job just to get stops, being about position on defense, try to get the rebound and bring energy to the team.”

Suns coach Monty Williams spoke on Okogie's hustle plays in defending against Minnesota's best scorer and All-Star Anthony Edwards, who had 31 points. He also helped defend against the Timberwolves other All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, who had 25 points.

“His ability to make plays, I thought the offensive rebound miss that he had was just a freak play, but defensively on the ball forcing Edwards away from the screen is something we wanted to do tonight," Williams said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Josh Okogie continues to thrive in starting role with Phoenix Suns