Suns Urged to Trade Devin Booker to Eastern Conference

Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker reaffirmed his commitment to Phoenix at the team's media day Wednesday.

"Guys move around all the time, and teams (are) moving guys around. So it's a partnership, it's a trust. (Owner) Mat (Ishbia) came in and understood the importance of how I felt about the city and how the city feels about me," Booker said.

"But like I just said, from being at the bottom and almost getting the job done, I have unfinished business here. I know how much it would mean to this city and this organization. That's my job as a leader. It's my responsibility of being a franchise player. I have to communicate to everybody the importance of basketball in this town, and how seriously we take it."

Booker is tied to the Suns through 2030 when he would be 33 after a contract extension this summer, though many are skeptical of Phoenix's future around him with its limited assets despite Booker's loyalty to Phoenix and Ishbia's loyalty to him.

Bleacher Report Proposes 2 Devin Booker Trades

Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley came up with two trade ideas involving Booker, both of which would help the Suns regain some picks and young players for the future.

The first trade involved Booker going to his hometown Detroit Pistons. This was the package:

• Detroit Pistons receive: Devin Booker
• Phoenix Suns receive: Ron Holland II, Jaden Ivey, Tobias Harris, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2031 first-round pick

Buckley wrote on the trade:

"General consensus suggests the Pistons need a legitimate co-star for Cade Cunningham if they want to take the next step. Opinions are split on where and when they should go about finding one.

"Some will preach patience and wonder whether this call could be answered in-house, with someone like Ivey, Holland, Ausar Thompson or Jalen Duren making that kind of jump. Others will cite Cunningham's readiness as a reason to aggressively pursue this player from outside the organization. Pistons governor Tom Gores might be in the latter camp, having stressed back in May that, "Our urgency is not going to stop."

"Detroit must be careful that recklessness doesn't get confused for urgency, but this deal wouldn't do that. Booker has all of the bona fides needed to handle second-star (or 1A-1B) duties alongside Cunningham.

"Booker, who hails from Grand Rapids, Mich., is precisely the kind of shot-maker and creator who would prevent defenses from overloading on Cunningham—or punish those that did. Over the past two seasons, Booker has been a nightly source of 26.3 points and 7.0 assists, and that scoring output actually lags behind his career postseason output (28).

"With Booker and Cunningham leading the offense, and the key components of Detroit's top-10 defense still in place, the Pistons could power their way into the East's elite tier already this season. And since Booker only turns 29 in October, Detroit might have a contending combo on hand for the next half-decade.

As for the Suns, Buckley feels it is overdue they accept their fate for the future with this deal.

"A Booker blockbuster would fly in the face of everything coming out of Phoenix, but it might be an overdue acceptance of fate," Buckley wrote. "The Suns are seemingly going nowhere fast, and that could be painfully obvious by the time Booker becomes trade-eligible in mid-January.

"Maybe by then, both sides will have figured out how incredibly difficult it'll be to win big together and could be ready for a split. If that happens, Phoenix would have to appreciate the many incoming assets here. The picks are the top prizes, but Ivey looked like a near-star before having his campaign cut short by broken left fibula, and Holland might be a reliable three-ball away from having a major two-way impact. Harris, finally, is a wholly serviceable vet whom the Suns could probably flip for another asset or two ahead of the deadline."

The second trade involving Booker that Buckley proposed was between the Suns and Philadelphia 76ers:

• Philadelphia 76ers receive: Devin Booker
• Phoenix Suns receive: Jared McCain, Paul George, a 2028 first-round pick (via LAC), a 2029 first-round pick and a 2031 first-round pick

Buckley explained this trade for both sides:

"While the Sixers' strategy of stockpiling stars hasn't worked out yet, they have enough assets to keep aiming for the right alignment. And you'd have to think they'd be even more open to making such an attempt if they could do so while also getting out of the remainder of George's contract.

"Doing so would be awfully costly, but Philly might have just enough trade chips to make it work. The price tag would be three unprotected firsts and the subtraction of McCain's sky-high ceiling, but the potential of a Booker-Tyrese Maxey-Joel Embiid trio would be incredible (with the if-healthy caveat perpetually attached, of course).

"For all that's gone sideways with the Suns, Booker has continued to rank as one of the Association's premier perimeter players on the offensive end. While an uncharacteristic drop in efficiency and Phoenix's team-wide turmoil denied him an All-Star spot this past season, he still posted a 25-plus-point scoring average for the seventh consecutive campaign while also dishing out a career-best 7.1 assists.

"In Philadelphia, he could seamlessly toggle between carrying the offense or merely supporting it as both an off-ball marksman and reliable table-setter. He could create easy looks for Embiid and Maxey and convert the easy looks they find for him. If the Sixers could somehow leave their injury problems in the past, that trio alone might deliver an elite offensive rating and the championship dreams that should come along with it.

"Phoenix would have to concede that a forward step isn't happening without a Booker trade, but it feels like that's an admission this franchise will begrudgingly make at some point, right? The Suns clearly aren't contending with Booker now, and they don't have the draft capital or young talent needed to quickly assemble that caliber of supporting cast while the soon-to-be 29-year-old is still within his prime.

"So, the Suns could opt to just finally ditch this dream and start from scratch, inheriting a fascinating 21-year-old talent in McCain plus three unprotected future firsts from teams with very uncertain futures ahead of them. Getting back George's albatross contract would be a drag, but if Phoenix realizes it must bottom out to ever get on the right path, then it should do what bottom-feeders do and be willing to take back bad money in order to collect as many rebuilding tools as possible."

It seems highly unlikely Booker moves anytime soon, but he will keep being involved in mock trades if the Suns cannot perform at a playoff-level.

Having a player of Booker's caliber that is so loyal to a franchise is extremely rare, and Ishbia recognizes the luxury he has with this and how difficult it would even come close to replacing him.

If the Suns can't figure things out in the next few years, trading Booker could become a real conversation, although it seems overblown as of now.

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