Devin Booker and the looming $150M contract extension: Your take?

BurningHeart · Post #21 » by **BurningHeart** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 4:14 am

Devin Booker is a loser. Not a winning player. We often know and see where his head and heart are at. Never in my life have I watched that guy play and ever put him in the elite of the elite of this franchise's history.

A very good player at times, but that kind of money and stature is reserved for Jordans.

The team should be getting rid of all players, coaches, and management associated with the travesties of the last 10 years save for last year's draft picks.

Building around him is foolish.

bullsaficianado · Post #22 » by **bullsaficianado** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 4:39 am

Dr Manute wrote:Basketball is a team sport - The Suns will never win a championship with Booker if he thinks he should get 35% of the overall cap. The "Leader" of this team should not have such an individualistic mentality.

Not every player will sacrifice for the team like Tim Duncan did. Looking at his career salary and Bradley Beal is getting $57 million a year is laughable.
https://hoopshype.com/player/tim-duncan/salary/

Post #23 » by **Qwigglez** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 4:43 am

Booker hit the accolades in order to be eligible to receive a supermax contract. I think many of you are not recognizing or are forgetting how good Booker really is, and how good he is in the playoffs (minus elimination game 7s). First time in the playoffs, he put up amazing numbers as the No 1 option and almost led the Suns to a championship. He had a good group of guys around him, but Booker was the catalyst that pushed the team over the top. 2nd year in the playoffs, he played even more out of his mind.

All that said, I'm not a fan of supermax contracts and what it does to any team's payroll. The CBA needs to change how the supermax is integrated into the salary cap, it is supposed to incentivize players to stay with smaller market teams and stay loyal to an organization. What they should do is, have a supermax player's contract only count towards the salary up to 25% of the salary cap or something to that affect. This way, it doesn't hurt the franchise a chance of still building a team around that player.

Post #24 » by **lilfishi22** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 4:56 am

Qwigglez wrote:Booker hit the accolades in order to be eligible to receive a supermax contract. I think many of you are not recognizing or are forgetting how good Booker really is, and how good he is in the playoffs (minus elimination game 7s). First time in the playoffs, he put up amazing numbers as the No 1 option and almost led the Suns to a championship. He had a good group of guys around him, but Booker was the catalyst that pushed the team over the top. 2nd year in the playoffs, he played even more out of his mind.

All that said, I'm not a fan of supermax contracts and what it does to any team's payroll. The CBA needs to change how the supermax is integrated into the salary cap, it is supposed to incentivize players to stay with smaller market teams and stay loyal to an organization. What they should do is, have a supermax player's contract only count towards the salary up to 25% of the salary cap or something to that affect. This way, it doesn't hurt the franchise a chance of still building a team around that player.

The 2nd apron rules really messed things up imo. WeekapaugGroove made a great point about the NBA having a mechanism to retain your star players (via supermax) but then didn't relook at mechanism when the 2nd apron rules came in. It now becomes much more expensive and far more difficult now to sustain a high payroll and thereby, a potential contender. The contending window for even well managed rosters with homegrown stars (like OKC) will be shorter than it could be and once again, the rich teams will be better resourced (LA) to sustain a higher payroll than one in a smaller market (like OKC).

While I am all for parity and love seeing so many different teams win over the last 7 years or so, I do think they need to re-examine the 2nd apron such that it works better with the supermax contracts, or vice versa

Bogyo · Post #25 » by **Bogyo** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 5:57 am

lilfishi22 wrote:People can correct me but I should note that Book has had his early extensions signed every time he was eligible. This was true under Sarver and it'll be true under Ishbia. He's absolutely earned his last two early max extensions and I was very pro being forward with getting him an extension early. This time around....it's a little different given where we are in our team trajectory. Book has 3 full seasons of guaranteed salary and while under the current CBA rules he is extension eligible (already), I do fail to see why we need to do it this offseason.

I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it or that I'm questioning whether he should continue to be the franchise guy moving forward but I don't think it's a no brainer like his previous extensions because of the 2nd apron implications and uncertainty around the team's projected competitive window.

I wouldn't be unhappy if he gets the extension, I just think....let's wait a season.

Yea, exactly. Wait a year - whatever happens next season its kinda make-or-brake for Books carreer and his legacy as a Sun in my opinion. He will still have 2 years on his contract then. If he shts the bed and continues with his "unbothered" attitude that he picked up from that other mf who we just got rid of for a bag of chips - he can hit the road as well. If he plays with a purpose, anchors the team, helps in incorporating the rookies, makes the All-Star and god forbid we make the playoffs then I'm OK with the extension - even though its crazy money to someone who is somewhat likely turning out as a rich mans Mitch Richmond when its all said and done.

Sunlight · Post #26 » by **Sunlight** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 6:54 am

No one has mentioned yet Booker played with Kevin Durant and was unable to take advantage of that. That alone says it all. A superstar is capable of developing a team's game during the season so that they at least make the playoffs. Booker is a complete statistic in that role. Incapable of being a leader. This team has been going in the wrong direction for a long time.

Frank Lee · Post #27 » by **Frank Lee** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 11:18 am

Booker is the second coming of BradBeal

Their similarities are there, as Book will be near the throne of one of the league’s highest paid players yet on a perpetual dawgshhtt team.

The math just doesn’t work for the timeline.

HopelessKnick · Post #28 » by **HopelessKnick** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 12:05 pm

I find this absolutely baffling. I mean at 75mill. per year you are committing so much money to a player that is good but ultimately not a superstar, which cripples your flexibility going forward.

On top of that, at 75mill. you essentially shot any trade value that he has. I can't picture too many teams going to be interested to add Booker at 75mill. He is probably not worth more than 50mill. So you can neither build a very successful team nor can you pivot and trade him easily. That's crazy.

Anyone can see that the right move would be to trade Booker for picks and young talent and rebuild at this point. There is a much much higher chance the Suns would be good in the near future through a rebuild than through this construct with Booker. The Suns were mostly a team I used to like ever since their Nash-Stoudemire days so this development is sad for them. They are poised to be the Washington Wizards part two.

Even if you want to keep Booker around for now, you have to retain the ability to pivot, trade him and get a good return. Booker at 75mill. makes him, if not untradable, at least severaly diminishes his potential return IMO. It's a bit like the Knicks' KAT situation. At 40-45mill. KAT would probably have high trade value and could net something very good, but at close to 60mill. the market for him is extremely limited. With today's salary cap structure, teams will be much much more cost conscious and view contracts in terms of what players xy provides and if the salary is sound in relation to performance. The times of just throwing around max money are going to be over and I feel you can already see it in the new contracts being signed by players like Adams, FVV, Reid etc. For example---I think the majority of the league would prefer Naz Reid at 25mill. per year instead of Booker at 75mill, although in basketball terms Booker is definitely the much more appealing player. Or at least would view Reid at 25mill. as more constructive in regards to team building under today's cap rules.

Post #29 » by **Qwigglez** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 5:32 pm

Sunlight wrote:No one has mentioned yet Booker played with Kevin Durant and was unable to take advantage of that. That alone says it all. A superstar is capable of developing a team's game during the season so that they at least make the playoffs. Booker is a complete statistic in that role. Incapable of being a leader. This team has been going in the wrong direction for a long time.

Who has been capable of taking advantage of playing with KD? This seems like a low blow to Booker.

sunskerr · Post #30 » by **sunskerr** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 5:39 pm

I think not extending him would be worse in that I think we will eventually be forced to trade him by circumstances related to us being a bad team, and that not extending him would cause us to lose basically all of our leverage.

I think he will put up very nice/substantial counting stats this year and his offensive metrics have always been very good, which will be enough to sustain some reasonably high level of trade value.

So it's obviously rough but in my opinion necessary. Of course he could bomb and maybe no GM ends up wanting him, which would suck.

But I think after the extension it's more likely that he will still have good value rather than have bad value.

sunsbg · Post #31 » by **sunsbg** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 5:40 pm

Qwigglez wrote:
Sunlight wrote:No one has mentioned yet Booker played with Kevin Durant and was unable to take advantage of that. That alone says it all. A superstar is capable of developing a team's game during the season so that they at least make the playoffs. Booker is a complete statistic in that role. Incapable of being a leader. This team has been going in the wrong direction for a long time.

Who has been capable of taking advantage of playing with KD? This seems like a low blow to Booker.

Didn't people around here say how KD will open Booker's game taking pressure off of him ? How he'll be the closer ? Imagine the top paid player in the league needing another one to be the closer. KD almost beat Bucks in '21 with injured team and was the clearly best player for Suns last season at 36yo. If Booker couldn't take advantage playing with KD who's fault is it ? Are other players like Mikal able to take advantage playing with Booker ? Who did he make look better ?

sunsbg · Post #32 » by **sunsbg** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 5:54 pm

Next 5 seasons with Booker as the leader are guaranteed mediocrity at best. If we are lucky the rooks develop and become good role players at least. If Booker wants to remain a Sun and not be remembered as a loser he'll have to take a pay cut so we can sign another co-star and then maybe contend for a championship during his last years.

Post #33 » by **Qwigglez** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 7:02 pm

sunsbg wrote:
Qwigglez wrote:
Sunlight wrote:No one has mentioned yet Booker played with Kevin Durant and was unable to take advantage of that. That alone says it all. A superstar is capable of developing a team's game during the season so that they at least make the playoffs. Booker is a complete statistic in that role. Incapable of being a leader. This team has been going in the wrong direction for a long time.

Who has been capable of taking advantage of playing with KD? This seems like a low blow to Booker.

Didn't people around here say how KD will open Booker's game taking pressure off of him ? How he'll be the closer ? Imagine the top paid player in the league needing another one to be the closer. KD almost beat Bucks in '21 with injured team and was the clearly best player for Suns last season at 36yo. If Booker couldn't take advantage playing with KD who's fault is it ? Are other players like Mikal able to take advantage playing with Booker ? Who did he make look better ?

I don't even think KD or Book are to blame to be honest. In the 2023 playoffs, Suns were the only team to take the Nuggets to 6 games. Keep in mind, Suns were without CP3 after game 2, winning game 3 and game 4. Suns didn't have a quality starting SF, rotating between Okogie and Craig, and KD only played 8 games in the regular season with the Suns. This was probably the most competitive team the Suns fielded around KD/Booker, but then Ishbia was short-sighted and traded CP3/Ayton away for scraps and an awful player in Beal.
Devin Booker was scorching hot this post-season averaging 36 points per game, 60% form the field, 52% from 3, with 5.2 rebounds, 7.1 assists, and 1.8 steals. This is throughout the 1st 10 games, I believe Booker got injured in the game 5 against the Nuggets, but still tried to play in Game 6, where the Suns didn't have Ayton or CP3.

Again, I think everyone is forgetting just how nasty Booker can be. Put a good team around him and let him work.

Frank Lee · Post #34 » by **Frank Lee** » Sat Jun 28, 2025 7:55 pm

Let him work for 50mil

garrick · Post #35 » by **garrick** » Sun Jun 29, 2025 1:51 am

The signs from last season worry me about giving him such a big extension.

Despite having KD on the team this season his efficiency dropped a lot and he just looked like he was fatigued or not really able to get to his spots as well as he could before.

Some of that could be defenses packing the middle but Book used to be able to put up big numbers in the past despite tight coverage so his physical peak is over and he will need to start adjusting his game to compensate but he hasn't really shown that he can do that so far.

starbosa10 · Post #36 » by **starbosa10** » Sun Jun 29, 2025 2:02 am

garrick wrote:The signs from last season worry me about giving him such a big extension.

Despite having KD on the team this season his efficiency dropped a lot and he just looked like he was fatigued or not really able to get to his spots as well as he could before.

Some of that could be defenses packing the middle but Book used to be able to put up big numbers in the past despite tight coverage so his physical peak is over and he will need to start adjusting his game to compensate but he hasn't really shown that he can do that so far.

Might have been the Olympics, also just think the atmosphere last year sucked across the board. Let's see what happens under Ott. Crazy to think how many different coaches Book has had in his 10 years here. I do think the lack of a real floor general hurts book the most. He's thrived when next to guys like cp3 and rubio

503Suns · Post #37 » by **503Suns** » Sun Jun 29, 2025 4:26 pm

Don't get all the Booker hate here.....pay him! Home grown Suns GOAT!

SkyBill40 · Post #38 » by **SkyBill40** » Mon Jun 30, 2025 5:31 pm

503Suns wrote:Don't get all the Booker hate here.....pay him! Home grown Suns GOAT!

It's a mixed bag, man. And he's already under a big contract that many questioned at the time it was announced. Since he's still under contract for three more years, I don't see the need for this... now. And I think that's where a lot of the stuff questioning it comes from rather than it just being "Booker hate."

Biff · Post #39 » by **Biff** » Tue Jul 1, 2025 6:15 am

Without question hurts us. Booker isn't a #1 kind of player, more a #2 and him being the highest paid player in the league means we treadmill. I think Booker has given up on chasing a ring and will be content to just make a lot of money from here on out.

handsome salary · Post #40 » by **handsome salary** » Tue Jul 1, 2025 12:48 pm

503Suns wrote:Don't get all the Booker hate here.....pay him! Home grown Suns GOAT!

Zero championships
Out of the playoffs more seasons than in
Played on the worst Suns teams ever
Fringe All Star
Choked away biggest game ever with historic loss and never recovered

There's your greatest home grown Sun. No wonder teams like Nugs, Raptors and now Thunder got their rings and Suns have not.

How do you feel about the pending deal to extend Devin Booker while he's still under contract?