No one actually thought the Phoenix Suns would trade Devin Booker this summer. They can't exactly enter a full-on rebuild period given their future draft picks are tied up with other teams, but still. Giving Booker a two-year, $145 million maximum extension shouldn't have been part of the plan.
It let NBA fans everywhere know how the Suns feel about Booker, though, and it's that they don't want him going anywhere anytime soon. Put away the trade machine. Booker won't be playing for your favorite team. Even if Phoenix wanted to trade him eventually, a deal would be practically impossible because of his extension.
The 28-year-old (he'll turn 29 next month) is signed through the 2029-30 season, a whopping $69.1 million player option that he'd be out of his mind to decline. He'll be 33 at that point.
Booker has repeatedly said that he wants to stay with the Suns for the entirety of his career, a wish that Phoenix helped grant with his new deal. He also said he wanted to win a championship with the Suns, but that's a wish that probably won't happen, at least not anytime soon.
The Suns don't want Devin Booker to go anywhere
Mat Ishbia told ESPN's Tim MacMahon that you need a "great player" like Booker to win a championship. He wasn't wrong about Booker being a great player. Is he a $50+ million player? Technically, yes, because that's how he's getting paid, but you can argue that his value isn't that high. It's hard to see it being $69 million.
Phoenix doesn't care about that, though. For whatever reason, Ishbia thinks the Suns can win a title now. No matter that the decisions he's made have put them in the position they're in.
Booker could've said no to signing the extension, but how could you say no to that kind of money? It's not like he was actively looking for ways to leave Phoenix, and the Suns were desperate enough to offer him that kind of money to convince him to stay. He hadn't requested a trade. The organization, or at least Ishbia, believes in Booker enough to give him a historic deal.
We can discuss the long-term implications all day, but Phoenix wasn't thinking about that when it offered Booker the extension. All the Suns cared about was keeping Booker in Phoenix. Mission accomplished.