![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/mark-williams.jpg\")
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The Phoenix Suns<\/a> didn\u2019t leave Salt Lake City with a win, but Devin Booker<\/a> made sure to highlight one teammate who did everything he could to change that outcome.<\/p>\n Following Phoenix\u2019s 138-135 loss to the Utah Jazz<\/a>, Booker singled out Mark Williams<\/a> for his energy and impact \u2014 especially on the glass.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know the motor I was talking about,\u201d Booker told AZCentral\u2019s Duane Rankin.<\/a> \u201cThe second chances, knocking down free throws \u2014 he\u2019s all over the place. I don\u2019t know what his plus-minus is when he\u2019s out there, but I bet we win the game with him out there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to figure out ways to start the game so we\u2019re not exerting all our energy to get back into it, but we showed a lot of fight.\u201d<\/p>\n Devin Booker as Suns trailed 19-2 in OT loss to Jazz.<\/p>\n \u201cWe needed this one. Puts more pressure on the next one. I know it\u2019s early in the <\/p>\n Mark Williams Provides a Bright Spot in Suns\u2019 Loss<\/p>\n Williams gave Phoenix much-needed interior toughness against Utah, finishing with 25 points, 11 rebounds and two steals in just 31 minutes. He shot 9-of-14 from the field and hit 7-of-9 free throws, giving the Suns an important inside presence on a night when they were otherwise outscored 52-50 in the paint.<\/p>\n The 23-year-old center also grabbed five offensive boards, creating key second-chance opportunities that helped the Suns erase an early 20-point deficit. Booker\u2019s comment about Williams\u2019 \u201cmotor\u201d was backed up by the numbers \u2013 Phoenix was +13 in his minutes, one of the few positive marks on the team.<\/p>\n Booker and Williams Building Chemistry<\/p>\n Booker, who finished with 34 points and 10 assists, has praised Williams repeatedly this month for his consistency and effort and perhaps shown his eagerness for the center to not have a minutes restriction. The Suns have struggled with defensive rebounding and rim protection during their early-season slump, and Williams\u2019 emergence has given them a potential long-term solution inside.<\/p>\n While the loss dropped Phoenix to 1-3, performances like Williams\u2019 offer hope that the Suns are finding complementary pieces around their star backcourt of Booker, Jalen Green and rising talent Collin Gillespie.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Suns traded for Williams in the summer, moving on from Vasijile Micic and a first round pick. The move was part of a bigger rebuild the Suns jumpstarted after buying out Bradley Beal and trading Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets<\/a>. Williams has shown he\u2019s a double-double threat. In 2024-25 with the Hornets<\/a> he averaged 15.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, adding in a block and a steal in about 27 minutes per game. That kind of production is elite, but the question around Williams has always been can he stay healthy? Williams has not appeared in more than 44 games in a season since entering the NBA<\/a> in 2022-23. Phoenix will surely test him this season, and will probably be quick to enact another minutes restriction if he gets hit by the injury bug again.<\/p>\n What\u2019s Next for Williams and the Suns<\/p>\n The Suns return home on October 29 to face the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>, where Williams is expected to draw the assignment against Jaren Jackson Jr. \u2014 another test of that relentless motor Booker loves.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tErik Anderson<\/a> is an award-winning sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com. Anderson is also the host of The Rip City Pod on The I-5 Corridor, where he dives into the stories and personalities shaping the Portland Trail Blazers. His work has appeared in nationally-recognized outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press , USA Today, and ESPN. More about Erik Anderson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Suns\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Phoenix Suns didn\u2019t leave Salt Lake City with a win, but Devin Booker made sure to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-247044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Williams had been a key target of the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> a season ago, and even traded there before the trade was rescinded after Williams failed a physical. The drama kept Williams in Charlotte for the rest of the season before the Suns swooped in this past summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n