Stephen A. Smith makes big claim about Devin Booker

Dec 18, 2019; Philadelphia, PA, USA; ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith broadcasts before a game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Miami Heat at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Stephen A. Smith is either doing some reporting or some manifesting right about now.

Speaking Monday on ESPN’s “First Take” after the Phoenix Suns got swept out of the first round of the playoffs the night before, Smith made a major claim about Suns star Devin Booker. Smith said that Booker wants to be in New York.

“From what I’m being told, I don’t know if it will ever happen, [but] Devin Booker wants to be in New York,” said Smith. “That’s what I’m being told.

“He might deny it, I haven’t spoken to him,” Smith added of Booker. “I’m just telling you the scuttlebutt in the NBA circles is that brother wanna be in New York.”

Booker, 27, is Phoenix’s homegrown franchise player and has been through every up and down with the team, including a 19-win season in 2018-19 and an NBA Finals berth in 2020-21. But few would blame Booker if he took a long, hard look at his future after the Suns’ embarrassing playoff result this season. The team fielded a nearly $200 million roster (based around their Big Three of Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal), only to get swept out of the very first round. Now as a second-apron luxury tax team without any of their first-round draft picks through 2030, there is virtually no way for the Suns to meaningfully improve their roster as currently constructed.

The merits of Smith as a source are debatable, especially since he is a known New York Knicks fanatic and even admitted that he hadn’t talked to Booker. But Booker, a former client of Knicks president Leon Rose at Creative Arts Agency, has already been linked to the Knicks as a trade target before. He also has his ex-Phoenix teammates Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson currently playing for the Brooklyn Nets.