Devin Booker linked to Thunder, Spurs by NBA executive

Recently, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns saw their 2023-24 NBA season come to an end with a shocking sweep at the hands of Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have since gone on to take a 1-0 series lead vs the reigning champion Denver Nuggets. Booker had a horrid start to the series before finally coming alive in Game 4 to the tune of nearly 50 points, but the Suns are still now faced with an offseason filled with more questions than answers after yet another early playoff exit.

Considering the Suns’ current salary situation, featuring Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal all on unbelievably lucrative contracts that don’t exactly allow for a ton of front office mobility, some have wondered whether the Suns might try to swing a trade featuring one of their stars in an attempt to shake things up a bit, if not enter a full-on rebuild.

Recently, a bit of fuel was dumped onto this idea in the form of some speculation from an anonymous NBA executive.

“San Antonio has the assets to get (Booker),” an executive said, per Rich Bucher of Fox Sports (via Tyler Conway of Bleacher Report). “So does Oklahoma City. And it’s really the only way Phoenix can change course.”

One person who doesn’t seem to be thinking about a huge switch is Suns owner Matt Ishbia, who recently told reporters that he believes this year’s Suns team was actually better than last year’s, which won six more games in the playoffs.

“We’ll be better next year than we were this year, yes,” Ishbia said, per Duanke Rankin of AZCentral. “Are we better this year than we were last year? Absolutely. Think about the team that lost to Denver, even though it was the second round, is our team better this year than last year? It’s not even close, but we didn’t win. NBA championship, that’s what we’re focused on and that’s what we’re going to be focused on this year coming up.”

Where do the Suns go from here?

Coming into the year, the Suns were expected to compete for an NBA championship following the high profile acquisition of Beal from the Phoenix Suns to join the two-headed monster that was Durant and Booker, who had joined forces midway through the 2022-23 season.

However, while Beal, Booker, and Durant all put up respectable individual stats, the team did not have a lot of mobility to invest very far into their bench or depth at the center and power forward positions, meaning there were a ton of exploitable holes up and down the roster, as well as some redundancy between the three stars.

Furthermore, the Suns’ lack of a true point guard to run the offense correctly and get the stars the ball in their preferred spots also became quite apparent in the sweep at the hands of the Timberwolves.

In any case, a highly interesting offseason certainly figures to be on the horizon in the desert, and some huge changes could potentially be in order.