With so much chatter around the future of Kevin Durant with the Phoenix Suns, it is easy to forget that their actual franchise cornerstone in Devin Booker has never been anything but committed to the The Valley. A fact that - despite a dreadful season in which the team only managed 36 wins - has continued into the early days of the offseason.
Booker opting to spend his time in Phoenix, as opposed to running away to another city or country until the Suns can hire a new head coach and re-shuffle their front office to come back next season and try again. This might seem like a small thing - but Booker didn't have to do that and be out and about with the public as often as he already has been - and it is a great sign for the team.
Worrying phrasing used to describe Booker's willingness to stay.
On the most recent episode of "The Hoop Collective" podcast, host Brian Windhorst mentioned that Booker was more than willing to sign a contract extension with the Suns, at two-years and just shy of $150 million. If the length of the deal seems low, it is only because as of this moment that is the most amount of years and money the franchise can tack onto Booker's current deal.
This is extremely positive news for an organization going through a rough patch, and so that should be the end of the story, right? After all, Booker has never publically said he wants to be anywhere else, and a reputable source like Windhorst going on the record saying Booker is up for signing the extension at this early stage of the offseason is a great development. Not so fast.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN was on the podcast, and he chimed in to say that Booker was "10 toes down in Phoenix". Which again can only be viewed as a good thing. Until you remember that this was the exact phrasing Damian Lillard used when speaking with Bontemps directly when asked about his future with the Portland Trail Blazers back in 2021. Not long after, he formally requested a trade.
Could this be nothing more than Bontemps trying to be funny? Sure, these days anything can happen in the NBA and the Luka Doncic trade has shown us that no star is safe. But the choice of words - and when he inserted them after Windhorst's initial update on Booker's willingness to sign the extension - felt like a measured response.
Fans in Phoenix expect Durant to leave this summer, and they would also be hoping for a sizeable haul in return. If Booker actually asked to leave though - and this is perhaps the worst part in all of this - most fans wouldn't even be mad. They'd understand he did everything he could to bring them a championship, and that the team has only gone backwards since Mat Ishbia bought the franchise.
A subsection of the fanbase have been vocal about a full teardown for some time now, but be careful what you wish for. The Suns spent so long not being relevant, and drafting Booker was the moment when that began to change. The most likely scenario here is that his signs the extension - it only increases his trade value anyway - but the use of that wording in particular is concerning.