Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver is worried about his legacy

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Phoenix Suns Ryan McDonough Josh Jackson (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Why now?

But, why now?

Like the 76ers’ “Trust the Process” mantra under Sam Hinkie, if the plan of one more season of losing by not selling young assets for a veteran (although non-star) point guard had been offered to the Phoenix fanbase, fans would have likely bought it knowing that at least Booker and Ayton were already in the fold.

Phoenix Suns fans are both intelligent and now have proved themselves to be extremely patient.

They understand that the playoffs this season would be a miracle and that even with Book, unless the Suns acquired a literal and undisputed star at point guard, anything else probably isn’t enough in the Western Conference to get over the hump, and thus the expectation of playoffs in 2019 isn’t really there – no matter how much we might wish it would be.

Thus a decently high draft pick, in particular a high lottery pick, would have been a worthwhile result, so long as the team was at least more competitive this season and blowouts of any denomination were few and far between.

Then whether that draft pick ended up being top-5 or not, the Suns would have had the opportunity at one more solid draft pick, or at least the chance of packaging the pick/player for the star Phoenix, and Ryan McDonough, had been looking for all along.

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Thus, a season of competitive losing would be worth it in the eyes of fans who were looking at the big picture.

There is one gigantic problem with this scenario though: Devin Booker.

Although he has said that he wants to be a Sun for life, things change all the time in professional sports and while he can be happy with the franchise one day, he might demand a trade the next.

Just ask Markieff Morris.

And Goran Dragic.

And Eric Bledsoe.

The days of the loyal superstar like Reggie Miller, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan are gone – and even Bryant used the demand of a trade (to Phoenix, of all placed) as leverage to get the Lakers to spur positive change.

Following the end of last season, Booker said that he was done losing, done missing the playoffs, and Sarver knows that if Booker becomes disgruntled and demands a trade, fair value will never be acquired, killing any chances of Phoenix remaining competitive.

Not to mention, if another star player demands a trade under Sarver, and that player is Devin Booker, he might as well not even attempt to sell the team, but simply dissolve the franchise and disappear into an abyss praying for the day that the memory of his time as owner of the Phoenix Suns could one day fade from the memories of those fans who have long adored the franchise.

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