Devin Booker’s Shocking $145 Million Suns Deal: What This Means for the Future of the Franchise

Booker, 28, is Phoenix’s all-time leader in points scored and 3-point field goals, and ranks in or near the top five in franchise history in a slew of other categories, including games, minutes and points per game. He’s a four-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection and two-time Olympic gold medalist. He’s one of the league’s premier three-level scorers: a high-efficiency finisher in the paint, an elite midrange marksman, and a five-alarm threat beyond the arc, whether he’s firing off the catch or pulling up behind a ball screen.The collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players stipulates that a contract covering a term of five or six seasons (including option years) can’t be extended until the third anniversary of the signing of the contract, and that it can only be extended up to five years out from the date of the new deal’s signing.AdvertisementIt’s also very much in keeping with Booker’s own public statements about wanting to be one of the “rare breed” of players who spends his entire career with one franchise — even if that franchise has rarely tasted success during his tenure with it.

It’s also very much in keeping with Booker’s own public statements about wanting to be one of the “rare breed” of players who spends his entire career with one franchise — even if that franchise has rarely tasted success during his tenure with it.

It’s also very much in keeping with Booker’s own public statements about wanting to be one of the “rare breed” of players who spends his entire career with one franchise — even if that franchise has rarely tasted success during his tenure with it.

“It’s been a slow bleed-out,” Booker told reporters. “I’ve been feeling this way for the majority of the season. I think the small glimpses of good stretches that we’ve played gave me hope, and probably gave everybody else hope. You never want it to be squeezing into the last spot of the play-in in the first place. … I think that’s one of the steps that we skipped: Learning through the wins and the losses. Just continue to get better every day, no matter what the circumstances are. We had spots where we did it, but it has to be something that’s turned on at all times.”The Suns enter the 2025-26 NBA season feeling pretty far away from getting it done, after failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2020, trading away one-time-all-in-bet Kevin Durant and rolling the dice on yet another new head coach … which, in its own way, brings us back to giving Booker as much money as possible, for as long as possible, as soon as possible.Advertisement