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It looks like the Phoenix Suns will be keeping at least one of their Big Three around through the offseason.
Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported Friday on four-time All-Star Devin Booker’s status on a rapidly-sinking Suns team. MacMahon writes that it is an “absolute certainty” that Booker will NOT be traded by the Suns this summer. Booker reportedly has a vision of spending his entire career in Phoenix, and Suns owner Mat Ishbia as well as lead executives Josh Bartelstein (the team’s CEO) and James Jones (the team’s general manager) are said to share that vision as well.
The Suns will definitely have some hard decisions to make this offseason. Despite being the NBA’s first-ever $400 million team (in combined salaries and luxury tax), Phoenix is not even a play-in team this season at 30-36. In a brutally tough Western Conference, the Suns may be beyond the point of salvation with just 16 games left to go.
On Booker’s end, he has been with Phoenix for his entire NBA career (since 2015) and trails only Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Dwight Powell as the longest-tenured active players with their current teams. Reports dating back a month had also suggested that Booker (who has been through much worse with the Suns, including four straight seasons of under 25 wins), indeed wants to stick around in Phoenix.
Now we know that Suns management is aligned with Booker’s stance as well. At 28 years old, Booker has admirable individual numbers this season of 25.9 points and 6.8 assists per game and is still under contract in Phoenix through 2028 (making roughly $55 million per year).
That said though, Phoenix’s other top stars might not be so lucky. The Suns are expected to trade away Kevin Durant this offseason (with six particular teams already being mentioned in connection with Durant), and they will definitely try to move Bradley Beal as well (though Beal is armed with a full no-trade clause).
More must-reads:
- Report: Giannis Antetokounmpo still mulling exit from Bucks
- Troubling update emerges about Joel Embiid’s health
- The 'NBA Summer League MVPs' quiz
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How much longer Rob Pelinka is expected to be Lakers GM revealed
Rob Pelinka still appears to have a very nice long runway in his current position. An update emerged over the weekend about how much longer the Los Angeles Lakers GM Pelinka is expected to remain in his post. Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported during an appearance on “Hoops Talk with Allen Sliwa” that Pelinka will likely remain GM for as long as Jeanie Buss is in charge of the Lakers as their acting governor. “So long as Jeanie’s in place, we also know that means that Rob Pelinka will be in place,” said McMenamin. “Because Jeanie’s the one who has elevated him every step of the way … I don’t anticipate, certainly not in the short-term, the way the Lakers operate changing dramatically whatsoever.” The Buss family recently agreed to sell their majority ownership stake in the Lakers to Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter at a record-setting $10 billion valuation. However, Jeanie will reportedly remain as Lakers governor as part of a contractually-stipulated clause in the agreement. We heard last month more specifically that Jeanie is still expected to stay in charge of the team through the end of the decade. As for Pelinka, the 55-year-old former agent of Kobe Bryant, he was hired by the Buss family in 2017. During the first few years of Pelinka’s tenure, the Lakers signed LeBron James, traded for Anthony Davis, and won the 2020 NBA championship in the Orlando bubble. Though Pelinka has had some ugly whiffs since (namely, the disaster trade for Russell Westbrook in 2021), he earned himself a whole boatload of goodwill with the franchise-altering trade for Luka Doncic earlier this year. Pelinka got a contract extension from the Lakers last April and also landed the new title of president of basketball operations to go along with his role as general manager. With Doncic also just agreeing to an enormous long-term extension with the Lakers, it looks like the team’s hierarchy (both at the player level and the management level) is set for the next several years to come.
Justin Fields Called 'Biggest Loser' In Jets Training Camp
The New York Jets opted to cut Aaron Rodgers and sign Justin Fields to replace him during the offseason. This kind of commitment to Fields should bolster his confidence, but it could also place a lot of pressure on his shoulders. To this point, Fields has looked solid in training camp, aside from a scary toe injury that was quickly resolved in July. Justin Fried of the Jet Press recently reported that Fields' training camp may have reached a new low over the weekend as the young signal caller struggled. "Justin Fields put together his best practice of the summer to this point on Friday, completing his first 12 passes en route to an excellent all-around performance. The same can't be said about his showing on Saturday, however," Fried wrote. "Fields finished the day an abysmal 2-of-10 in the air, including a drop from rookie tight end Mason Taylor. "Some of his incompletions were catchable balls, but the Jets' passing game struggles on Saturday can largely be blamed on No. 7. Fields did flash his running ability with a 25-yard rushing score on the first play of red-zone drills, but the Jets would like to see more consistency in the air from the starting quarterback. Saturday's scrimmage was far from his best showing of the summer." Fields is a runner first at the NFL level, but his arm is nothing to scoff at. For most of training camp, his arm talent has been better than advertised, but during Saturday's scrimmage, it just wasn't there. A 2 for 10 performance is unacceptable for a $40 million quarterback who was signed to take over the team. The running game should open up the passing game for the Jets, which is going to need to be the case if Fields is going to struggle like this. However, it's just one day of camp. It's nothing to be too concerned about. Just because Fields lost this specific practice doesn't mean he's heading in the wrong direction as a whole.
Aaron Boone addresses Alex Rodriguez’s criticism of Yankees
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone responded Sunday, one day after Alex Rodriguez suggested his team lacks discipline and accountability. On FOX’s MLB pregame show Saturday, Rodriguez questioned the “accountability” of the Yankees after Boone did not pull Jazz Chisholm from Saturday’s loss to Miami after the infielder made a brutal baserunning blunder. Rodriguez suggested that the Yankees do not face consequences for such mistakes, and that it has contributed to further errors. “If any one of us made a mistake, we would be sitting our butt right on the bench,” Rodriguez said. “I see mistake after mistake, and there’s no consequences.” Boone took issue with those remarks when asked about them on Sunday. He said he accepts that the Yankees will always face added scrutiny, but that he disagreed with the substance of Rodriguez’s remarks. “I would disagree a little bit with the accountability factor, but the reality is, we’re focused every day on being the best we can be,” Boone said, via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “That’s how we have to do it. But I understand when it doesn’t happen, or we don’t have the record that I think we should have, or certainly people think we should have — that comes with the territory.” Boone is known for keeping things positive publicly, even when things are going poorly for the Yankees. That has led to some criticism from fans, who feel that he goes too easy on his players when they are underperforming. The team’s recent stretch of mediocre play combined with a lack of consequences for errors like Chisholm’s have reinforced those critiques. The Yankees lost again on Sunday and were swept by the Marlins, dropping them to 60-51 on the season. Until the team starts consistently winning again, Boone is going to hear more comments like Rodriguez’s.
Familiar face gets attention in Packers training camp: ‘I always wanted to be back’
The Green Bay Packers have decisions to make soon, with the 53-man roster cut deadline on the horizon. Among those hoping to make it to Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season on the team’s main roster is tight end John FitzPatrick, who reunited with the Packers after signing a one-year contract worth $1.5M in April. Green Bay initially signed him to the active roster in 2024 following a practice squad stint with the Atlanta Falcons. He played nine games for the Packers in the 2024 NFL campaign, but did not produce significantly on the field, having also seen just 32% of offensive snaps. He had a catch on a single target for two receiving yards last season. TE loving his Green Bay Packers comeback Competing for a spot behind Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave, the 25-year-old FitzPatrick had his moments on the field on Friday with a sliding catch from a Malik Willis pass before scoring a touchdown. FitzPatrick is not hiding his true feelings about being back with Green Bay, as he continues to prove himself to the team. “I always wanted to be back here,” FitzPatrick said, per Wes Hodkiewicz of the Packers’ official website. “I really love it here. I love the people here. When the opportunity presented itself, it was really a no-brainer. It was nice just being able to go through the whole offseason program. The OTAs and the lifting, all the meetings and practices, I think has just helped me a ton.” FitzPatrick entered the pros in 2022, when the Falcons took him off the board in the sixth round (213th overall) of the NFL draft.
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