The Phoenix Suns are in the midst of a weird transitional phase, but according to a front office executive who spoke with Keith Smith of Spotrac at Summer League, they are unwavering in their belief in Devin Booker. “That’s our guy,” a Suns front office executive told Smith. “He wants to be a forever Sun. We want that too. We’re well on our way to making it happen.”
Despite trading Kevin Durant and waiving Bradley Beal this summer, the Suns are still committed to Booker, and it doesn’t seem like he wants to go anywhere, either. He inked a record-breaking two-year, $145 million extension to stay in Phoenix.
Booker and the Suns have become synonymous.
How are the Suns helping Devin Booker?
Phoenix has made it painfully clear that they want to keep Booker around for his entire career. But that puts them in a bit of an awkward position. On the one hand, trading him for a haul of picks could help reset their draft cabinet. On the other, they don’t own their own firsts, and Booker doesn’t want to go anywhere.
Because of that, the Suns are in quite the pickle. But since they aren’t interested in trying to bottom out, which could come back to bite them, they have handled this summer as well as they possibly could have.
The Suns could have went all-out on trading for veterans who they believe can help Booker win right now. They could have prioritized that in a Durant trade. But they didn’t.
Instead, the Suns got a blend of solid talent and young assets in the Durant deal, adding Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Khaman Maluach (the No. 10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft), and a hoard of second-round picks.
On top of that, they traded for Mark Williams on draft night, and added a couple of other solid rookies in Rasheer Fleming.
The group Phoenix has put together heading into next season isn’t going to make noise in the West. There’s a good chance they miss out on the Play-In Tournament entirely. But Phoenix has a plan.
They know that Booker wants to be there long-term, so they are planning for the long term. They are taking shots on young guys who they feel can be a part of their new core moving forward.
At this point, with very little draft capital and limited assets, the best way for the Suns to rebuild around Booker (again) is to bank on the develpment of young talent.
That’s exactly what they started doing this offseason.