Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia slammed the door hard on Houston Rockets and other rival teams who want to pry away his franchise star Devin Booker in the wake of their disappointing season.
“Never happen,” Ishbia told ESPN on Booker getting traded. “It’s silly. So here’s what I’ll tell you: I have Devin Booker in the prime. In order to win an NBA championship, you got to have a superstar. You got to have a great player.”
Booker is in the first year of his four-year, $224 supermax contract extension.
According to the ESPN report, the Rockets “have repeatedly expressed interest in Booker, a 28-year-old star who fits Houston’s timeline, and that those conversations have been brief.”
The Rockets acquired a chunk of Phoenix’s future first-round draft capital (2025 swap rights, 2027 and 2029 picks, all unprotected) in a picks-centered deal with the Brooklyn Nets, who got their picks back from the James Harden trade to start a rebuild, with Booker in mind.
‘I Want Us To Win Today’
Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin, citing sources, reported that the Suns “could probably get four first round picks for Booker and a rising star in his third or fourth year” if they are going to make him available.
But Ishbia, according to the ESPN report, said that the Suns are holding on to Booker and going to “pivot and rebuild” around him in the offseason.
They tried to do that at the trade deadline, focusing on Jimmy Butler. But Bradley Beal did not want to waive his no-trade clause while Kevin Durant thumbed down going back to the Golden State Warriors.
They will try again in the offseason as Ishbia took offense to the suggestions that he should tear the Suns down and build from scratch.
“It’s surprising to me that other people, other fans, they actually like the rebuild process,” Ishbia told ESPN. “Like, ‘Oh, let’s rebuild it.’ Are you crazy?! You think I’m going to go for seven years and try to get there? You enjoy the 2030 draft picks that we have holding? I want to try to see the game today. I want us to win today, and we’re going to try.
“Although let’s say this doesn’t work, guess what? Maybe next year we won’t be as good, but we’re going to try again. The next opportunity we have, we’re going to try to win and compete. And it will work. We will win championships here in Phoenix. Might not be this year, but I promise you we are going to do it. And that’s what we’re focused on.”
Suns Owner Still Not Giving up on the Season
Ishbia bought the Suns team in 2022, inheriting Booker, who was the franchise’s 13th overall pick in 2015.
Booker has endured a half-decade of losing seasons before breaking through in the playoffs and led the Suns to the NBA Finals during the 2020-21 season. He is the only remaining player on that Finals roster.
Despite bankrolling the most expensive roster led by Booker, Durant and Beal, Ishbia finds himself staring at another wasted season.
The Suns are 1.5 games outside of the play-in group with 15 games left, the toughest schedule remaining according to Tankathon. But the rash of injuries to the current No. 10 Dallas Mavericks (33-35) gives the 31-36 Suns a sliver of a hope to crash the postseason party.
And if they get in, Ishbia is bullish about their chances.
“If we get in the playoffs, I don’t think that we’re an easy out for anybody,” Ishbia told ESPN.
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