The Phoenix Suns' season ended on Sunday, bringing relief (of some sort) to the fans who made it to game 82. Fans can't even try to be optimistic and turn their attention to the draft, given that the Suns depleted their draft assets over the past few years. There's no reason to feel any positivity.
Phoenix fired Mike Budenholzer on Monday, making him the third coach to be dismissed in as many seasons. ESPN's Shams Charania broke the news and added that the Suns are expected to engage in trade discussions regarding Kevin Durant. The writing has been on the wall that the 2024-25 season would be KD's last in Phoenix, especially after the front office listened to offers for him before the deadline.
Trading Durant will be a step in the right direction for the Suns, but he only has one full season left on his current contract, so he won't net Phoenix the return the front office hopes for. KD will turn 37 before the start of next season, too. He's still playing at a high level, but time is ticking.
What Phoenix doesn't want to admit is that it might also be time to trade its homegrown star. Devin Booker has spent the past 10 seasons in the desert and is only 28. The Suns failed to build a winning team around him, to no fault of Booker's.
Suns need to consider trading Devin Booker this summer
The 2024-25 season was Booker's first in a four-year, $220 million supermax deal, so he's signed through 2027-28. Phoenix's best chance to regain draft capital would be trading the guard in his prime. Mat Ishbia told ESPN last month that the Suns have no intention of trading Booker and entering rebuild mode, which could doom Phoenix even more.
Ironically, the Suns have a player on the roster who should push them to listen to offers for Booker. Bradley Beal signed a five-year, $251 million extension with the Wizards in 2022. He wanted to be the player to turn things around in Washington, a team that had made the playoffs once in the previous four seasons. Luckily for the Wizards, the Suns bailed them out.
Booker wants to lead the Suns to a championship and spend his entire career in Phoenix. The Suns are expected to offer him a two-year, $149.8 million extension this offseason. Phoenix wants to continue building around Booker, but how will that happen with no assets (they don't control their picks for the rest of the decade!) and salary cap limitations?
The Suns want a team to pay a high price for Durant, which might not happen given his contract. He'll get to dictate where he goes, as the team that gets him should want him to sign an extension. Either way, the return Phoenix gets for him won't be enough to put the team on the right track. Trading Booker, though...
Ishbia has proven the past couple of years that he will do things his way, regardless of the consequences. He wants Booker to guide Phoenix to a title, but Ishbia has pushed the Suns further away from reaching that goal than they were in 2020, the last time they missed the playoffs before this season.
Nobody wants to see Booker leave Arizona, but tearing things down feels more necessary than ever after a dismal 2024-25 season.