The Finals aren’t even over yet, but the madness of the NBA offseason has already begun. The New York Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau and have struck out so far looking for his replacement. The Celtics, under new ownership, have to decide how to navigate their future with Jayson Tatum likely missing next season. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant may be on the move.
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Durant’s Phoenix Suns are going to be one of the teams to watch this summer. They tried to trade KD at the deadline, but he nuked it with a deal to the Golden State Warriors, and talks stagnated afterwards. The Suns did all they could to swap Bradley Beal, but his no-trade clause threw a spanner in the works.
It looks like Durant will be traded this time around, but what about the rest of the Suns’ roster? Phoenix has a serious lack of draft picks at its disposal, and after the way the team missed the playoffs, it’s not out of the question that Mat Ishbia, one of the league’s newest owners, pushes the reset button on the current team. That might even include trading Devin Booker.
Trading Booker was unthinkable not so long ago. He is one of the best shooting guards in the league, and he’s still only 28 years old. If the Suns are going to trade KD away and punt on being a contender in the near future, then it makes sense that they could also trade D-Book and initiate a full rebuild.
Booker was on The Backyard Podcast with D’Angelo Russell this week, and one comment about his pre-draft process from 2015 has fans thinking that he may be looking for a move to South Beach. Booker was asked if he knew he was going to Phoenix before the Suns took him with the 13th overall pick.
“Oh no,” he shook his head. Podcast cohost Logan Linkmeyer said, “I thought you was going to Miami,” to which Booker replied, “That’s where I was hopin’.”
Booker added: “Miami was my best workout, and then I remember Pat Riley did an interview and he was like, ‘We’re looking for a Klay Thompson-type player, we need to up our shooting.’ I just shot 40 [percent from 3] in college, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah.’ I’m looking at spots right down there by the arena.”
Riley, who, like Booker, played for Kentucky back in his collegiate days, eschewed picking his fellow Wildcat. And he instead went with Duke forward Justise Winslow with the 10th overall pick, a move that hasn’t aged well. Booker has become an All-NBA-level player while Winslow struggled to make much of an impact in his eight years in the league.
It’s worth noting, however, that Ishbia said three days ago that Booker would not be traded. It would take a trade request. Even then, Booker has three years left on his deal.
It would not be surprising to see more suitors come out of the woodwork for him, pushing Miami out of the running. Could Booker end up becoming a member of the Heat all these years later?
If he’s available, Miami would certainly be one of the teams interested. The Heat traded away Jimmy Butler at the deadline and are now relying on Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo as their best players. If the Heat could get Booker without giving up Herro, those two could form one of the most potent shooting backcourts in the league.
Knowing that Booker wanted to go to Miami back in the day could give the Heat an edge as well. If the Suns do trade their franchise player away, they’ll probably send him somewhere he actually wants to go.
Riley will be extra motivated to make a splash this offseason after the acrimonious way things ended with Butler. Keep an eye on this one as an interesting possibility.
