Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns are running out of time to figure things out.

With eight games to play, the Suns (35–39) are one game behind the Dallas Mavericks (36–38) for the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference—the final spot in the play-in tournament. Star guard Devin Booker is having a down year, too, averaging 25.3 points per game while shooting 45.3% from the field—his worst mark in both categories since the 2017-18 season.

On the latest 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, former NBA player Rudy Gay said that Booker is "having one of his worst seasons" of his 10-year career. And Carmelo Anthony has a theory as to why that is happening.

"I think Book is suffering from the USA team. Not suffering in a negative way, but he's been impacted," Anthony said. "He's been impacted by the culture of Team USA. Everybody is telling you, 'Man, you've got to do something else; do something else, bring something else to the table. Go do the dirty work.'"

Booker helped Team USA win the gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games. But he took a backseat to fellow stars LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and even Anthony Edwards, who all averaged more points per game in the international competition than Booker.

Instead of taking his typical role on the floor, Booker morphed into more of a distributor and only attempted an average of 7.3 shots across six games, which ranked sixth on Team USA. Anthony believes Booker's Olympic mentality has leaked into the NBA season as he tries to build chemistry with Durant and Bradley Beal.

"So now Book, he's started to sacrifice his game for Phoenix," Anthony said. "... [His] mentality is, once you get that bug and understand how to win, being in those environments on how to win, and the little s--- that it takes to win, you come back totally different. 'This worked on the USA team, I ain't going to try to average 30 this year. I'm going to try to average like 22 and get my assists up.'

"This is how they play mind games with themselves. I truly believe that Book is dealing with some of that, figuring out how to make this work."

Booker is having a rough month of March, logging 21.9 points per game on 44.5% shooting from the field. If the Suns are going to make a push for the postseason, perhaps they do need Booker to rediscover his aggressive mentality on offense.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Carmelo Anthony Offers Interesting Theory for Devin Booker's Down Year With Suns.