It looks like the Phoenix Suns will be keeping at least one of their Big Three around through the offseason.
Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported Friday on four-time All-Star Devin Booker’s status on a rapidly-sinking Suns team. MacMahon writes that it is an “absolute certainty” that Booker will NOT be traded by the Suns this summer. Booker reportedly has a vision of spending his entire career in Phoenix, and Suns owner Mat Ishbia as well as lead executives Josh Bartelstein (the team’s CEO) and James Jones (the team’s general manager) are said to share that vision too.
The Suns will definitely have some hard decisions to make this offseason. Despite being the NBA’s first-ever $400 million team (in combined salaries and luxury tax), Phoenix is not even a play-in team this season at 30-36. In a brutally tough Western Conference, the Suns may be beyond the point of salvation with just 16 games left to go.
On Booker’s end, he has been with Phoenix for his entire NBA career (since 2015) and trails only Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Dwight Powell as the longest-tenured active players with their current teams. Reports dating back a month had also suggested that Booker (who has been through much worse with the Suns, including four straight seasons of under 25 wins), indeed wants to stick around in Phoenix.
Now we know that Suns management is aligned with Booker’s stance as well. At 28 years old, Booker has admirable individual numbers this season of 25.9 points and 6.8 assists per game and is still under contract in Phoenix through 2028 (making roughly $55 million per year).
That said though, Phoenix’s other top stars might not be so lucky. The Suns are expected to trade away Kevin Durant this offseason (with six particular teams already being mentioned in connection with Durant), and they will definitely try to move Bradley Beal as well (though Beal is armed with a full no-trade clause).
