Devin Booker

[TheNetsFan]

Trading Booker seems like the tank & bottom out strategy, but the biggest impediment to that for PHX is that their picks are scattered all over the place.

Control of '26 belongs to Washington or more likely Orlando
Control of '27 resides with Houston
Control of '28 resides with Brooklyn
Control of '29 resides with Houston
Control of '30 resides with Washington or Memphis
Control of '31 resides with Utah

Their best bet may be to try to continue to compete next year, and then consider a Booker to Houston deal next summer. At least that way they can regain control of 2 picks over 3 years.

[Slim Charless]

Trading Booker seems like the tank & bottom out strategy, but the biggest impediment to that for PHX is that their picks are scattered all over the place.

Control of '26 belongs to Washington or more likely Orlando
Control of '27 resides with Houston
Control of '28 resides with Brooklyn
Control of '29 resides with Houston
Control of '30 resides with Washington or Memphis
Control of '31 resides with Utah

Their best bet may be to try to continue to compete next year, and then consider a Booker to Houston deal next summer. At least that way they can regain control of 2 picks over 3 years.

That depends on the outcome of the playoffs. I don't have to tell a Nets fan that desparate GMs do dumb things. Both ours and NYKs gave you guys a motherload of stuff cause they thought they were close. If we go too young cause the deal is good and Booker wants out, then you can do it.

He's from MI and that is a great fit for both teams in my eyes. They might be looking to jump to the next lvl and pair Cade with someone this summer.

[LarsV8]

Trading Booker seems like the tank & bottom out strategy, but the biggest impediment to that for PHX is that their picks are scattered all over the place.

Control of '26 belongs to Washington or more likely Orlando
Control of '27 resides with Houston
Control of '28 resides with Brooklyn
Control of '29 resides with Houston
Control of '30 resides with Washington or Memphis
Control of '31 resides with Utah

Their best bet may be to try to continue to compete next year, and then consider a Booker to Houston deal next summer. At least that way they can regain control of 2 picks over 3 years.

The risk there is if Houston is no longer interested next year, or Booker gets injured/declines. Or perhaps Durant falls off a cliff after an extension. Houston could very well trade for another impact player this offseason and spread the picks out further across the league. Or perhaps Jalen Green takes a leap, and the desire for Booker is just no longer there.

As sad as it sounds, Phoenix is fortunate that Houston has their picks concentrated in one location which really leaves them with at least one path forward right now, that isn't absolutely god awful. All other scenarios are fairly nightmarish.

The way I see it:

1.) Stay the course - no reason to expect things to get any better. Team will just be older and more expensive. Another couple hundred million in lux tax payments. They might temporary bounce back, maybe with a different coach, but it will crash eventually and they will be basically hopeless for 3-4 years. A nightmare scenario with little upfront upside and a sure fire way to make your fanbase completely disappear. The only thing that makes being bad in the NBA tolerable, is hope, hope that you will get the next awesome player in the draft.

2.) Trade Booker, retool around Durant. The problem here is the teams looking to trade for Booker will want to send win later assets, so again you would maybe have your picks back, but Durant is good enough to not be on the worst team in the league, so your picks end up being okay, but not worth getting back. And no other team that is adding Booker will send a collection of role players better than Booker, because they wouldn't make the trade if that were true. And you probably still have luxury tax issues, which by the way risk moving your future picks TO THE END OF THE DRAFT, as the apron penalties are no joke.

3.) Trade Durant, retool around Booker. Same problem as above. Trades don't really happen where both teams try to win now. You trade to either sell off pieces to rebuild, consolidate pieces to improve, or make cap saving moves. If a team is trading for Durant, they are not going to give you a better aggregated collection of players, which most likely means a worse team next year. If he is traded for rebuilding pieces, you again, are still terrible, but not enough to really get any good draft selections. And you probably still have luxury tax issues, which by the way risk moving your future picks TO THE END OF THE DRAFT, as the apron penalties are no joke.

4.) Trade Booker and Durant, but don't your picks back. A possible path, but you better be damn sure whatever you get back has guaranteed upside, because those assets you get back is your only swing. Most likely other teams will want to trade picks that are worse than your own, so you may have a higher quantity, but you are still pumping out top ten picks to all the teams mentioned in the quote.

All of the above are god awful (IMHO), I don't care what narrative people try and rationalize, its HUGE risk and very little upside. No reasonable person, who is a fan of Phoenix, should want any of those outcomes.

The only non terrible path forward, with even a glimmer of hope / upside, is too trade both guys this offseason, and ensure you get your near term picks back. Get out of the tax immediately. You can probably secure your picks back for 25-28, which gives you a three year tanking window, while also snagging at least a few young players to jump start a rebuild. Send Beal home, and tell him he isn't playing basketball for three years, unless he waives his NTC, which would likely be the end of his career. You could strong arm him and probably turn him into an asset in the offseason after next, as an expiring contract who can still contribute. With three years of tanking, and good cap management, you can likely field a competitive team again, with decent upside for 2029, which makes not having your picks in 29-31 not completely terrible.

Now to be clear, the Booker and Durant trades are going to absolutely suck. Phoenix has no leverage and everybody knows it. There is not going to be any bidding wars, or whatever idealistic fantasy is out there. Phoenix is going to have to go to Houston, Brooklyn and Orlando and beg them for a get out jail free card. Getting Houston's picks, but not Orlando's is not going to work. You can probably stomach not getting the Washington or Brooklyn picks back, as at least the swap will still give you a decent pick, but you most likely are going to have to send some of the Durant return to Orlando.

Unfortunately for Phoenix, there owner seems to be reckless, and while its nice to be able to burn through cash, he likely does try and retool around Booker. Way to risky for me, but maybe they find some magic and avoid all the potential disasters that could result.

[Slim Charless]

That's a good write-up even tho I don't agree with the basic premise. I plainly don't agree with the return value as Durant's price has been set and Bookers should be even higher

[Ghost of Kleine]

What people don't get is that our owner is an arrogant delusional idiot that doesn't understand the business aspects of basketball, doesn't care about draft picks, and doesn't want to take any accountability for his egregious mismanagement decisions.

On top of that, he's got this infatuation with surrounding himself with his Michigan buddies like Isiah Thomas and Booker, etc. He's top narcissistic to own up and do the right thing! He'll hold onto Booker for at least another two seasons to continue trying to justify his idiotic moves and Booker will finally get fed up and ask out!

Crazy that BOTH Phoenix and Dallas have the very worst ownership and front office GMS in the entire league and neither have much of a future now. You have to wonder which team will get moved first to Las Vegas under these conditions?

[Ghost of Kleine]

That's a good write-up even tho I don't agree with the basic premise. I plainly don't agree with the return value as Durant's price has been set and Bookers should be even higher

Lars V8 stated some good things up to his assessment on Phoenix having no leverage and their being no other bidding teams for KD and Booker.

And due to that narrative, somehow we'd have to take a very poor pu pu platter return back which is absolute nonsense and the fantasies are actually his trying to promote that we wouldn't have any alternative options.

Unfortunately that statement in his response carries typical implicit bias perspectives, but again, there'll be plenty of teams bidding for either or both. The reality is there'll be no less than at least 4-6 teams bidding for KD to help push them over the top into contention this summer!

And there'll be a ton.of suitors for Booker if our Ted Stepien 2.0 azzhat owner can just abandon delusion for a moment and commit to our inevitable rebuild!

The real problem is that Ishbia is an incredible moronic Jackazz that can't get past himself and do the right thing. Thomas being in his ear only compounds the situation further!

[TheNetsFan]

Trading Booker seems like the tank & bottom out strategy, but the biggest impediment to that for PHX is that their picks are scattered all over the place.

Control of '26 belongs to Washington or more likely Orlando
Control of '27 resides with Houston
Control of '28 resides with Brooklyn
Control of '29 resides with Houston
Control of '30 resides with Washington or Memphis
Control of '31 resides with Utah

Their best bet may be to try to continue to compete next year, and then consider a Booker to Houston deal next summer. At least that way they can regain control of 2 picks over 3 years.

The risk there is if Houston is no longer interested next year, or Booker gets injured/declines. Or perhaps Durant falls off a cliff after an extension. Houston could very well trade for another impact player this offseason and spread the picks out further across the league. Or perhaps Jalen Green takes a leap, and the desire for Booker is just no longer there.

As sad as it sounds, Phoenix is fortunate that Houston has their picks concentrated in one location which really leaves them with at least one path forward right now, that isn't absolutely god awful. All other scenarios are fairly nightmarish.
..

The point is that Houston does NOT have the PHX picks concentrated in one location. The '25 pick origin is immaterial at this point, because by the time a trade for it could happen, it's too late to tank. The '25 PHX pick HOU owns is no different than some other late lottery or mid-teens pick.

You later claim they can get control of '25-'28 picks back, but 4 different teams have claims on the three '26-'28 PHX picks. Satisfying 4 teams in 1-2 deals is going to be very difficult.

[LarsV8]

Trading Booker seems like the tank & bottom out strategy, but the biggest impediment to that for PHX is that their picks are scattered all over the place.

Control of '26 belongs to Washington or more likely Orlando
Control of '27 resides with Houston
Control of '28 resides with Brooklyn
Control of '29 resides with Houston
Control of '30 resides with Washington or Memphis
Control of '31 resides with Utah

Their best bet may be to try to continue to compete next year, and then consider a Booker to Houston deal next summer. At least that way they can regain control of 2 picks over 3 years.

The risk there is if Houston is no longer interested next year, or Booker gets injured/declines. Or perhaps Durant falls off a cliff after an extension. Houston could very well trade for another impact player this offseason and spread the picks out further across the league. Or perhaps Jalen Green takes a leap, and the desire for Booker is just no longer there.

As sad as it sounds, Phoenix is fortunate that Houston has their picks concentrated in one location which really leaves them with at least one path forward right now, that isn't absolutely god awful. All other scenarios are fairly nightmarish.
..

The point is that Houston does NOT have the PHX picks concentrated in one location. The '25 pick origin is immaterial at this point, because by the time a trade for it could happen, it's too late to tank. The '25 PHX pick HOU owns is no different than some other late lottery or mid-teens pick.

You later claim they can get control of '25-'28 picks back, but 4 different teams have claims on the three '26-'28 PHX picks. Satisfying 4 teams in 1-2 deals is going to be very difficult.

No, I don't think it would be.

- Washington doesn't matter because they will be terrible. If both are tanking, Phoenix might have have to swap the 1st pick for like 4th pick, but that is still a quality outcome for a rebuilding team. It stings, but it doesn't hurt you that bad.
- Orlando is one you would have too worry about, as they will be a playoff team, but they have many needs, and it probably won't be difficult to find something they want to give back that pick. This is the same play that Chicago just made in the Fox deal to get their pick back.
- Brooklyn could be tricky, but Houston has their 27 swap, so that could be worked through.

As they be would sending out both Durant and Booker, they would, in gross, receive quite a bit back, which would then of course, have to be used to get their own picks back. Houston *could* likely facilitate the Brooklyn pick back, and part of the Durant return could be sent to Orlando to get their own pick back. There would be tons of workable options here, with each team extracting a hunk of flesh from Phoenix.

But, as I noted previously, on a net basis, it will not be a great haul for the caliber of players they are sending out, as they are so insanely over leveraged, and it will be expensive to unwind all that. BUT, even still, its probably the best outcome, among a slew of nightmarish ones. They would be able to get out of apron hell, clean up their cap, and have an opportunity to add free agents, the year after Beal expires, before all their new draftees big contracts kick in. If they can't get Brooklyns pick back, even then, it might still be better than the horrific retool or run it back scenarios.