NBA Notes: Suns, Devin Booker, Cavs, injuries, Spurs

Suns

Devin Booker isn’t going anywhere. Not if he has a say in it.

The Suns star told Nick Friedell of The Athletic he wants to be a one–city guy — much like Stephen Curry with the Warriors. Phoenix drafted Booker at 18. He got embraced early. He got booed early. He got to the Finals. And Booker says he wants the rest of his career to happen in the same zip code.

“I was adopted as an 18–year–old coming in,” Booker said. “The city watched me grow up.”

He’s 29 now. Signed through 2030. And despite the failed Kevin Durant / Bradley Beal /Booker experiment, Booker is betting on staying power in Phoenix.

Cavaliers

In case you missed it, Cleveland is finally trending toward whole again, as we relayed earlier.

Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Sam Merrill have all been upgraded to questionable for Wednesday vs. the 76ers. Max Strus remains out. But this is the closest the Cavs have been to upright in weeks.

Kenny Atkinson said Garland is “really close.” If not Wednesday, then perhaps Friday in Washington. And he won’t return as a token. It’ll be real minutes. Not 12. Not 32. Somewhere in between.

The Cavs are 4–3, and they’ve just been trying to stay afloat. Garland coming back is the first real sign of stability.

Spurs

Are the Spurs actually … elite?

There’s an argument, as we also relayed here.

Victor Wembanyama looks like an MVP candidate. They started 5–0. ESPN’s WAR metric has him as the second-best player on a per-possession basis. His PER is 30.7. Only 35 players in league history have ever done that — and their teams averaged 53 wins.

The caveat, of course, is that the schedule has been gentle. But if Wemby continues to play like this? San Antonio’s ceiling may legitimately be “top of the conference.” If not now, then soon.