Devin Booker’s Historic $145M Extension Shows Suns Haven’t Learned Their Lesson

The Phoenix Suns made NBA history on Wednesday night by agreeing to terms on a two-year, $145 million extension with star guard Devin Booker, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. That $72.5 million average annual salary is not only tops in the NBA, but it’s the highest per-year rate across all of the major North American sports leagues.

Booker already had three guaranteed seasons remaining on the four-year, $220.4 million supermax extension that he signed with the Suns in July 2022. Phoenix wasn’t allowed to tack on more than two extra years to his deal this offseason. In doing so, the Suns have now ensured that he’ll be under contract for the rest of the decade.

The Suns are clearly committing to Booker as their franchise cornerstone in the wake of their decision to trade Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets this offseason. In mid-March, team governor Mat Ishbia told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon that a trade involving Booker would “never happen” and called the premise “silly.”

“Here’s what I’ll tell you: I have Devin Booker in the prime,” Ishbia added. “In order to win an NBA championship, you got to have a superstar. You got to have a great player.”

Booker is undeniably a great player. He’s received four All-Star nods, two All-NBA nods and has averaged at least 25 points per game in each of the past seven seasons. However, he is not widely considered a top-five or even a top-10 player in the NBA. ESPN had him as the league’s 15th-best player heading into last season. He’s 19th in The Ringer’s latest player rankings.

Is that the type of player worth doubling down on when he has three years left on his current contract? When he’ll be entering his age-32 season at the start of his new deal? It might work out fine for the Suns, but the risk-reward ratio is out of whack from their perspective.

In that sense, it suggests that they still haven’t learned their lesson from their failed Big Three era.

High Risk, Low Reward

Two years ago, the NBA’s latest collective bargaining agreement went into effect. The biggest change was the introduction of the punitive second apron, which imposed harsh team-building restrictions on teams that crossed said line.

Some teams began to balk at shelling out money like they did before, but the Suns were undeterred. After acquiring Durant at the trade deadline that February, they dealt nearly every remaining draft pick they had to the Washington Wizards in the offseason for Bradley Beal, who was both on a massive contract and had a no-trade clause that traveled with him. That turned them into a litmus test for whether Big Three models could still survive the second-apron era.

Two years later, it’s safe to say the Suns regret that move. They lost in the first round of the 2023-24 playoffs and failed to even make the postseason this past year. They were unable to flip Beal ahead of the February trade deadline, in large part because of his no-trade clause, which caused them to pivot toward shopping Durant. That reportedly rubbed him the wrong way and paved the path for his departure from Phoenix this offseason.

To their credit, the Suns did not give Booker a no-trade clause in his latest extension. They’ve at least learned that lesson from the Beal experience. However, they might have backed themselves into a similar corner with this deal.

“The question I’d be asking if I worked in Phoenix’s front office is whether Booker has more trade value on this extension or less,” John Hollinger of The Athletic wrote before news of the extension broke. “I think the answer is pretty clearly the latter.” (ESPN’s Kevin Pelton concurred with that assessment as well.)

Most teams have been willing to play more hardball than usual in the second-apron era, even with their stars. The Los Angeles Clippers allowed Paul George to walk in free agency last summer because they held firm at a three-year offer, whereas the Philadelphia 76ers gave him a full four-year max. (The Sixers might already regret doing so, too.) James Harden and Kyrie Irving got nowhere near their max salaries on their new contracts this offseason, although age and/or injuries contributed to that. Even Chet Holmgren, who agreed to a five-year max extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, seemingly won’t get the full 30% of the salary cap that he could have received if he wins MVP or Defensive Player of the Year or makes an All-NBA team this coming season.

Teams still figure to hand blank checks to generational superstars such as Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Dončić (the Dallas Mavericks notwithstanding). Otherwise, there appears to be more room for negotiation than there previously was with All-Stars. The Suns did not take advantage of that either from a timing or salary perspective.

Booker has stayed relatively healthy throughout his career to date, so his extension might not age as poorly as the three-year, $187.6 million deal that the Sixers signed star center Joel Embiid to ahead of last season. Embiid had two guaranteed years left on his deal at the time along with a $59.0 million player option in 2026-27, but the Sixers doubled down on the oft-injured center and locked him up through 2028-29.

However, Embiid never looked quite like himself upon his return from a meniscus surgery that he underwent the previous February. He wound up playing only 19 games last season and is now routinely mentioned among the worst contracts in the NBA, alongside both George and Beal.

If Booker does suffer a major injury within the next three years, the Suns don’t have any outs in his new deal. Between injury risk and his aging curve, there’s far more downside to locking him up this far in advance than there is upside.

What’s Next For Phoenix?

From here, the big question is how the Suns will proceed with Beal. According to multiple reports, they’re pursuing a buyout with him, although they aren’t allowed to waive-and-stretch him like the Milwaukee Bucks did with Damian Lillard unless he gives back roughly $13.8 million in said buyout.

If the Suns do come to terms with Beal on such a deal and wind up stretching the two years and $110.8 million remaining on his contract, they’ll be left with a dead cap hit of roughly $19.4 million in each of the next five seasons. Based on current projections, they’d be paying Beal and Booker nearly $83.5 million combined in 2028-29, the first year of Booker’s new extension, which would be roughly 45% percent of the projected salary cap.

Ishbia told MacMahon in March that he has zero interest in pursuing a long-term rebuild, but at some point, he might not have much of a choice. The Suns don’t have control over their own first-round pick until 2032. They’ve also traded away all but one of their next seven second-round picks, although they do have a 2027 first-round pick coming their way via the Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers or Minnesota Timberwolves (the least favorable of those three).

The Suns recouped solid value for Durant in Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 overall pick and five second-round picks. Granted, they proceeded to trade five second-rounders to move up twice in the draft this year for Rasheer Fleming (No. 31 overall) and Koby Brea (No. 41 overall), so they’re now down to only two tradable second-round picks—their own in 2029 and the second-most favorable of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks or Philadelphia 76ers’ pick in 2026.

Perhaps Booker will be content riding out the rest of his career in Phoenix even if the Suns can’t back into championship contention in the near future. If not, this extension might wind up making it harder to trade him or reduce how much teams are willing to give up for him.

While the Suns might not be afraid of the second apron or massive luxury-tax bills, other teams certainly seem to be. If they continue plowing ahead and spending obliviously, it might only cost them in the long run.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

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