There is no doubt that the 2025-26 Phoenix Suns are Devin Booker's team. The 28-year-old was rewarded with a contract extension this offseason - and while the scary numbers involved don't bear thinking about for now - he is being paid to be the franchise from now until the end of the decade.
Despite adding players who are going to prove popular such as Dillon Brooks, The Valley will always hold a special place for Booker. There is also reason to believe that - despite losing Kevin Durant and to a lesser extent Bradley Beal this offseason - the Suns can rival the 36 wins of last season based on Booker's singular talents alone.
Booker will never be loved like he is in Phoenix if he leaves.
Although there is surely a lot of losing in the future for both the star player and the franchise, the pairing of both gives Booker something that no other organization in the NBA ever can. As explained by Doug Haller on The Athletic's NBA Daily Podcast, Booker will never get the unconditional love or be treated the same by any other team and their fanbase.
This will only become more important as Booker inches towards 30-years-old, with the Suns still likely to be far away from contention by that point. He need only look at Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, as the best example as to why he should never ask to be traded by the franchise that drafted him.
Lillard went chasing a title with the Milwaukee Bucks, and it ended badly. So bad in fact that he's now back with the Trail Blazers, and yet it is not quite the same as before. Booker would always be welcomed back with open arms - assuming he handled any future trade request with class like we know he would - but it would take him out of the G.O.A.T. conversation in Phoenix.
Right now he's on track to be the best player in Suns' history - even with this detour into point guard land once more - but that would go away if he left The Valley. It is up to Booker to decide if that kind of adulation - like what Allen Iverson receives from the Philadelphia 76ers - is ultimately worth giving up the chance to win it all.
Obviously the best case scenario here is the Suns improve to the point they're contenders again, and Booker brings a first title back to the people of Phoenix. He'd be the best player in the history of the team for sure then, but leaving for any reason and even if he eventually were to come back would mean that could never happen. An ending the Suns and only the Suns can give Booker.