Mat Ishbia says a Devin Booker trade will ‘never happen’

PHOENIX — Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia let it all out in a new ESPN report detailing the future of his franchise amidst a disappointing 2024-25 campaign. Of the many topics discussed, one thing was absolutely certain: Devin Booker will never be traded, no matter how bleak things become.

“Never happen,” Ishbia told Senior NBA Insider Tim MacMahon. “It’s silly. So here’s what I’ll tell you: I have Devin Booker in the prime. In order to win an NBA championship, you got to have a superstar. You got to have a great player.”

Previous reports suggested that Booker was highly-coveted by various franchises if Phoenix were to indeed blow it up. One franchise in particular, as MacMahon reported, was the Houston Rockets, who own a good amount of the Suns’ future first-round draft picks and have expressed interest in the 28-year-old star in the past.

What should be most important is that ownership and its homegrown franchise player are always in line, especially when times are as bleak as they are in the Valley; and Booker and Ishbia seem to be.

MacMahon gave Suns fans a massive sigh of relief by confirming that Phoenix’s four-time All-Star would never request a trade and wants to retire a Sun just like his idol, the late Kobe Bryant did on the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I mean, it’s a rare breed,” Booker said. “I take pride in the community in Phoenix, the people that have supported me since I was 18 when things were ugly. And the people that are with us, we just fell short of accomplishing what we want. So I want to do it, and I want to do it here.

“That’s the responsibility of being a franchise player, and I wear that with honor. So it might not look the most pretty right now, but we got to get it done and I’m going to do it.”

The greater message received from the report is that Ishbia will do anything but rebuild his franchise, especially while Booker is still in his prime. He instead plans on “retooling” the roster so as to always be in a position to compete.