Devin Booker’s loyalty is tested as Suns’ future remains uncertain.
You’re James Jones. What do you do?
There’s still time to contemplate every possible path for the Phoenix Suns before the offseason, but the question is already eating away at fans. If you were the general manager, how would you fix what has become so unbelievably broken?
The season isn’t even over, yet battle lines are being drawn. It’s about to be some real Lord of the Flies shit around here for the next few months.
One camp wants to blow it all up. Move every max contract and start over. Another clings to the pipe dream that Bradley Beal would actually waive his no-trade clause for a desirable destination, thus allowing the team to build around Durant and Booker. Then there’s the group that believes trading Kevin Durant is the key to resetting the culture. And, of course, the most radical idea of them all: moving Devin Booker. After all, he’s the most valuable asset. He would bring back the biggest haul.
So, which path do you take?
We know Beal’s going no where this offseason. So what do you do?
— Suns JAM Session Podcast (@SunsJAM) March 2, 2025
Nothing is certain, but some things are starting to feel inevitable.
First, it doesn’t look like Bradley Beal is waiving that no-trade clause. Beal will be here next season. And why wouldn’t he? Phoenix is a great place to live—as long as you’re not here between June and August. His family is settled, and they’re surely enjoying everything the Valley has to offer. Plus, let’s be honest: winning has never been Beal’s top priority. He spent 11 years in Washington watching the franchise spin its wheels. A soft rebuild in Phoenix won’t scare him.
Kevin Durant? That’s a different story. All signs point to him being the piece Phoenix moves this summer. The only question is whether they can get a strong enough return. He’s still an elite player, but his trade value has diminished. Not because of his talent, but because he’s on an expiring contract. That swings leverage in his favor. The latest rumors suggest the Suns will work with Durant to find a destination of his choosing, helping ease his transition out of Phoenix. Whether that’s the right move is a debate in itself, but it does seem like his time in the Valley is coming to an end.
And then there’s Devin Booker. The Chosen Sun. A decade into his career, he’s poured everything into rebuilding this franchise, only to watch the front office botch the roster construction around him. Yet, through all the chaos, he still seems committed to Phoenix. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, that’s exactly the case. Even as the team stumbles, even as the franchise faces another crossroads, Booker remains.
The Suns have a failing and hugely expensive big three, and that’s untenable in the apron era. Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker will make a combined $150 million next season, the most expensive trio in the league, and they’re not working together. Beal has a no-trade clause, and he made it very clear he doesn’t intend to waive it. Booker is deemed untouchable and doesn’t want to leave. That leaves the options as status quo or trading Durant as part of a roster restructuring. The status quo is unacceptable, so you start to see how this trade Durant reality comes into focus. The Suns apparently already came to this conclusion because they had talks with several teams about moving Durant at the deadline. The conditions in Phoenix have only deteriorated since.
These conversations aren’t going anywhere. For the next two and a half months, we’ll debate Durant’s future. We’ll question whether Booker should stay. We’ll wonder if there’s even the faintest possibility of Bradley Beal waiving his no-trade clause. Camps will form, lines will be drawn. But remember this: it’s okay to see the full picture. It’s okay to acknowledge the human element in all of this. And it’s okay to change your mind.
Maybe today you believe keeping Durant is the right move. Maybe tomorrow, after seeing how the landscape shifts, you don’t. That’s fine. Be fluid. Be like water.
In the end, we’ll all make our cases, take our stances, and when the Suns inevitably disappoint us again, we’ll dig up old conversations to see where we were right—and, more often than not, where we were wrong. And those who took the easiest route, the ones who always predict failure? They’ll remind us they saw it coming. They’ll circle the wagons.
It’s all part of this ridiculous, exhausting, and strangely addictive game we call being a Suns fan.
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