Are The Suns Cursed? Book it!

[Mori Chu]

Supermax-extending Booker is not a bad move. He is still very highly valued around the league. We want to keep him here and keep him happy. And if it doesn't work out, he will be extremely tradeable.

[Carno]

Booker is not eligible for the Supermax. People need to stop complaining about his upcoming extension. He will cost about the same as he does now relative to the cap.

[TOO]

Booker is not eligible for the Supermax. People need to stop complaining about his upcoming extension. He will cost about the same as he does now relative to the cap.

Yeah, I was hit with the initial sticker shock at 75m per, but that's gonna be the norm for upcoming extensions.

[Split T]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

[JeremyG]

Booker is not eligible for the Supermax. People need to stop complaining about his upcoming extension. He will cost about the same as he does now relative to the cap.

What are you talking about? He’s currently on a Supermax contract and is eligible for a Supermax extension.

In fact, his upcoming $75M per year extension will make him the highest paid player in the entire history of the NBA.

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/devin- ... 45525.html

[JeremyG]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

That’s why you trade him right now. I don’t think his value will ever be as high in the future as it is right now.

[TOO]

Booker is not eligible for the Supermax. People need to stop complaining about his upcoming extension. He will cost about the same as he does now relative to the cap.

What are you talking about? He’s currently on a Supermax contract and is eligible for a Supermax extension.

In fact, his upcoming $75M per year extension will make him the highest paid player in the entire history of the NBA.

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/devin- ... 45525.html

But let's not act like it will stay that way.

[JeremyG]

Booker is not eligible for the Supermax. People need to stop complaining about his upcoming extension. He will cost about the same as he does now relative to the cap.

What are you talking about? He’s currently on a Supermax contract and is eligible for a Supermax extension.

In fact, his upcoming $75M per year extension will make him the highest paid player in the entire history of the NBA.

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/devin- ... 45525.html

But let's not act like it will stay that way.

Nobody can make a larger percentage of the cap.

[Carno]

Booker is not eligible for the Supermax. People need to stop complaining about his upcoming extension. He will cost about the same as he does now relative to the cap.

What are you talking about? He’s currently on a Supermax contract and is eligible for a Supermax extension.

In fact, his upcoming $75M per year extension will make him the highest paid player in the entire history of the NBA.

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/devin- ... 45525.html

My bad on his current contract. I didn't recall that it was a supermax extension. However, he is no longer eligible for a supermax extension since he can only sign one supermax extension. It's just semantics though.

I asked ChatGPT to estimate his extension versus the cap and got this:

Season	Salary (est.)	Cap Projection	% of Cap (est.)
2024–25	$49.4M	$141M	35.0%
2025–26	$53.4M	$149M	35.8%
2026–27	$57.4M	$157M	36.5%
2027–28	$61.4M	$165M	37.2%
**2028–29**	**$74.8M**	$174M	**43.0%**
**2029–30**	**$80.8M**	$183M	**44.1%**
**2030–31**	**$87.3M**	$192M	**45.5%**
**2031–32**	**$94.3M**	$202M	**46.7%**

So, now that this is all laid out, yeah this is ridiculous. Trade the bum (no not really). Keep in mind it gets much worse if he waits until next year to sign the extension.

[Split T]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

That’s why you trade him right now. I don’t think his value will ever be as high in the future as it is right now.

I think that’s a fair opinion. I’m not opposed to that.

[Split T]

Booker is not eligible for the Supermax. People need to stop complaining about his upcoming extension. He will cost about the same as he does now relative to the cap.

What are you talking about? He’s currently on a Supermax contract and is eligible for a Supermax extension.

In fact, his upcoming $75M per year extension will make him the highest paid player in the entire history of the NBA.

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/devin- ... 45525.html

This happens every year. The cap goes up and whoever signs the latest deal will be the highest ever.

[Superbone]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

That’s why you trade him right now. I don’t think his value will ever be as high in the future as it is right now.

I think that’s a fair opinion. I’m not opposed to that.

Feel free to agree amongst yourselves but it's not happening.

[Kryptonic]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

That’s why you trade him right now. I don’t think his value will ever be as high in the future as it is right now.

People take this as disrespect for Book and I don't get it... He's a great player but our team has a LOT of limitations in regard to what we can do with our roster and the first thing we should work on is undoing this giant mess and hit the reset button. Book is our best option for doing that since he'd bring back the most in a trade. We're playing checkers while OKC is playing chess and we need to get back to playing the long game instead of trying to buy a championship.

[Kryptonic]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

That’s why you trade him right now. I don’t think his value will ever be as high in the future as it is right now.

I think that’s a fair opinion. I’m not opposed to that.

Feel free to agree amongst yourselves but it's not happening.

Agreed.. because it's the most logical idea, which is why it wouldn't happen.

[Superbone]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

That’s why you trade him right now. I don’t think his value will ever be as high in the future as it is right now.

People take this as disrespect for Book and I don't get it... He's a great player but our team has a LOT of limitations in regard to what we can do with our roster and the first thing we should work on is undoing this giant mess and hit the reset button. Book is our best option for doing that since he'd bring back the most in a trade. We're playing checkers while OKC is playing chess and we need to get back to playing the long game instead of trying to buy a championship.

I don't know about disrespect but I just know I believe Ishbia when he says he's not trading Book and that he'll be extending him. It's just not the direction we're going whether us fans think it's the right move or not.

[Split T]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

That’s why you trade him right now. I don’t think his value will ever be as high in the future as it is right now.

I think that’s a fair opinion. I’m not opposed to that.

Feel free to agree amongst yourselves but it's not happening.

For the record, I’m just saying it’s a fair opinion. I know it’s not happening and I also don’t think it makes sense right now. I’d wait and see what a one year retool sets us up for. I’d consider it more next summer if things don’t go well.

[Superbone]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

That’s why you trade him right now. I don’t think his value will ever be as high in the future as it is right now.

I think that’s a fair opinion. I’m not opposed to that.

Feel free to agree amongst yourselves but it's not happening.

Agreed.. because it's the most logical idea, which is why it wouldn't happen.

We can agree to disagree on it being the most logical idea. Depends on what you're going for. A total rebuild or partial. Ishbia has decided on partial. No way to know which one would have been better without parallel universes.

[Superbone]

Ya, in a perfect world you wait…but what message does that send to Booker? You can’t say he’s your franchise guy and then not pay him that way. I don’t think Booker is a true max level guy(there will be better guys making the same money), but he’s clearly going to get that number from someone.

You do run the risk of him getting a major injury or pulling a Beal and becoming a mediocre player, but if he stays at his current level of play, he’s more valuable with those extra years than without them. Just look at how teams are talking about KD…saying he’s a rental because he only has 1 year left.

That’s why you trade him right now. I don’t think his value will ever be as high in the future as it is right now.

I think that’s a fair opinion. I’m not opposed to that.

Feel free to agree amongst yourselves but it's not happening.

For the record, I’m just saying it’s a fair opinion. I know it’s not happening and I also don’t think it makes sense right now. I’d wait and see what a one year retool sets us up for. I’d consider it more next summer if things don’t go well.

Oh, for sure it's definitely a fair opinion. I totally get it. I'm just living in the reality to what is actually going to happen because we've been told straight up. Can things change? Most definitely.

[1tinsoldier]

now Barkley's on board with trading Booker because it would be best for Suns and best for Booker's championship aspirations. Booker's priority, however, seems to be the money. Him, his agent, and Ishbia likely agreed to the contract extension before the trade deadline -- the dump Durant campaign began and the coach was thrown under the bus. Loyalty to phx? Sure -- Phx is a goldmine for him -- a safe place for his empty stats, jersey and shoe sales, etc..

[1tinsoldier]

Supermax-extending Booker is not a bad move. He is still very highly valued around the league. We want to keep him here and keep him happy. And if it doesn't work out, he will be extremely tradeable.

the phx suns failed beyond anyone's wildest imagination, paired with a hall-of-famer still in top form. Though only one person commented on his disappointing season stats here (after some prodding) his presence on the team could arguably be deemed an overall negative.

the rest of the league and fans didn't even make him an all-star.

there is already signs that teams like Houston don't want to touch Booker. With a 75 mil contract, teams will not even speak his name. His points will go up without Durant demanding double teams, but his defense, 3pt shooting, and shooting percentage, and clutch shooting won't. He hasn't got the Kobe lift on his jumpshot anymore and he'll be even slower on defense.

and the rookie coach will make the same mistake as the 7 before him -- letting Booker make his own decisions and play his own game!