Suns Sign Devin Booker To Five-Year Extension
The Suns have officially signed guard Devin Booker to a contract extension that will cover five years and pay him the maximum salary, the team announced today in a press release. The club also tweeted out of a photo of Booker with the finalized contract.
“I am humbled and honored to commit to the Suns organization long term,” Booker said in a statement. “I have loved calling Phoenix home the last three seasons as this team and community are special to me. Thank you to the Suns for drafting me and believing in me. I look forward to the future and pursing a title as a Phoenix Sun.”
The Suns and Booker met earlier this week and were said to be making progress toward finalizing a new five-year max extension. The deal couldn’t be completed until after the July moratorium ended on Friday.
Booker’s new contract will go into effect starting in the 2019/20 season. Currently, based on a $109MM cap projection for that league year, a five-year deal would be worth $158MM. However, that figure could go up or down depending on where the salary cap ultimately lands. The starting salary will be worth 25% of the cap.
Booker, 21, has improved his numbers across the board during his first three seasons in the NBA, establishing new career highs in PPG (24.9), APG (4.7), RPG (4.5), 3PT% (.383), and several other categories in 2017/18.
The Suns haven’t won more than 24 games in a season since Booker debuted with the team, but the franchise appears to be trending in a positive direction. So far this offseason, the club has added No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, young three-and-D wing Mikal Bridges, and veteran wing Trevor Ariza, among others, so Booker should have more help going forward.
Booker was one of 23 former first-round picks eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason. While the Suns guard was the first one to officially sign a new deal, there are several other candidates to get one before the mid-October deadline, including Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Myles Turner, and Larry Nance.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Knight, Kings
There’s pressure on the Lakers to get a second star, but it’s far from urgent, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report writes. So long as the franchise continues to practice patience, they’ll remain flexible enough to have options.
As things stand, the club has $5.7MM in cap space. That figure could grow to as much as $15.5MM if the club waives and stretches Luol Deng‘s contract over three seasons. They can get as high as $22.8MM if they can unload the deal altogether with “at least a first-rounder attached,” Pincus says. That flexibility would make a Brandon Ingram-for-Kawhi Leonard swap financially feasible.
Of course the Lakers could wait to see if a different trade for a star beckons, as reports suggest with Jimmy Butler and as is at least borderline conceivable with Damian Lillard.
An alternative to making a move this season would be giving center Brook Lopez the Lakers’ remaining $5.7MM of cap space on a one-year deal, retaining all of their young players in an audition to see who best fits with LeBron James, then going out shopping for a star next summer.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division tonight:
- The Suns may have their go-to point guard already on the roster. Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic writes about how head coach Igor Kokoskov has referred to Brandon Knight as their starter and that the guard seems to already have a better relationship with Kokoskov than he did with Earl Watson.
- The Suns are making progress in their rookie scale extension negotiations with Devin Booker, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 tweets, noting that they could have something finalized by the end of the weekend.
- Signing either Zach LaVine or Jabari Parker would require the Kings to reshape their roster, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes. The club currently has plenty of young players they’d like to develop. The Kings already have Bogdan Bogdanovic and Buddy Hield at the two while they just drafted Marvin Bagley to play the four.
Devin Booker Progressing Toward Max Extension With Suns
The Suns are making progress on a five-year, $158MM extension with Devin Booker, according to Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic.
Phoenix presented the offer to Booker at a meeting today. A source tells Bordow that parameters of the deal were outlined and describes the session as “productive,” citing “mutual interest from both sides in working to finalize a deal.”
Booker quickly emerged as an offensive force for the Suns after being taken with the 13th pick in the 2015 draft. He posted career highs across the board in his third season with 24.9 PPG, 4.7 APG, and 4.5 RPG.
The $158MM figure is an estimate based on current cap projections, but the final value won’t be set until next season’s official figures are in place.
Booker and the Suns have until the day before the season starts to complete an extension, but it sounds like the two sides may be able to finalize a deal not long after the July moratorium ends on Friday.
Max Deal Candidate Devin Booker Set To Meet With Suns
The Suns will meet with star guard Devin Booker to discuss a rookie scale extension, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The meeting, which will include franchise owner Robert Sarver, general manager Ryan McDonough, Booker, and Booker’s agent Leon Rose, will take place on Tuesday.
Booker has been pegged as a potential max player for a while now, and Wojnarowski reiterates that the star guard a strong candidate to procure the highest deal he’s eligible for when the time comes.
While there had been reports that Booker wasn’t pleased with the Suns’ lack of communication when they waived close friend Tyler Ulis, Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic tweets that it likely won’t impact Booker’s desire to remain with the team long-term.
In his third season, the 21-year-old Booker averaged 24.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Now heading into his fourth, he’ll be joined by the deepest supporting cast of his career, with Phoenix having reached an agreement to sign Trevor Ariza after adding Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges in the draft.
Although the exact amount that Booker will be eligible to make in 2019/20 and beyond won’t be set until next season’s cap figures are revealed, a max deal would be worth 25% of the cap. With the current cap projection for 2019/20 set at $109MM, that would result in a $158MM deal over the course of five seasons.
The parties would also have the freedom to negotiate a clause that would allow Booker to earn as much as 30% of the cap in the event that he qualifies for an All-NBA team in 2019. Such was the case with the deal between the Sixers and Joel Embiid, who would have received a 30% max if he had earned a spot on the All-NBA First Team — he narrowly missed out.
Booker and the Suns will have until the day before the 2018/19 regular season begins to reach an agreement on a rookie scale extension. If they don’t come to terms, Booker will be on track to become a restricted free agent next summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Devin Booker Upset With Suns’ Front Office
1:25pm: Booker wasn’t upset with the Suns’ front office over the fact that Ulis was waived, but the “lack of communication” regarding the move upset him, a source tells Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links).
12:22pm: The Suns waived guard Tyler Ulis on Saturday before his salary for 2018/19 could become guaranteed, and the move isn’t sitting well with one noteworthy Sun. According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter), Devin Booker is upset with Phoenix’s front office over the release of Ulis, his best friend.
Booker, who is entering his fourth NBA season, is now eligible for a contract extension for the first time in his career. He and the Suns could come to an agreement anytime between now and the start of the 2018/19 regular season, and a new deal would keep Booker off the restricted free agent market in 2019.
It remains to be seen whether Booker’s unhappiness with the front office will have any real impact on those contract negotiations. While it probably isn’t a great time for the franchise to upset its star scorer, players eligible for rookie scale extensions generally don’t turn down maximum-salary offers, as Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic observes (via Twitter). And Phoenix is expected to put that sort of offer on the table.
It would be a surprise if Ulis’ release creates an irreparable rift in the relationship between Booker and the Suns, but it’s still something worth watching as the club looks to lock up the 21-year-old to a long-term deal.
And-Ones: Extension Candidates, BIG3, Sports Betting
With the NBA postseason set to tip off this weekend an equally intriguing offseason draws nearer. Recently, Keith Smith of RealGM took a nice, long look at the upcoming batch of players eligible to sign rookie contract extensions after July 1.
While some players like Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker are no-brainers for rich contract extensions, other players like Kristaps Porzingis and Myles Turner are intriguing cases.
Porzingis, Smith writes, could be a candidate for a conditional contract extension similar to the one Joel Embiid signed last summer. Turner, meanwhile, proved himself a worthy NBA starter early in his career but has dealt with injury setbacks of his own in the time since.
A number of the top lottery picks in the 2015 draft class aren’t likely to sign significant extensions, if they’re even eligible to do so at all. Two of the top five picks – Jahlil Okafor and Mario Hezonja – didn’t even have the fourth-year of their rookie deals picked up.
For a breakdown of all 30 first-round picks, how they fared through their first three seasons in the NBA and whether or not you can expect them to hit the restricted market in 2019, be sure to check out Smith’s full piece.
There’s more from around the NBA.
- With discussion over the legalization of sports betting a hot topic these days, the NBA Player’s Association has issued a statement, urging consideration for players’ rights ahead of any consequent negotiations over associated fees. Ben Fawkes of ESPN has the latest about the pressing issue while Chris Crouse of Hoops Rumors confirms that the NBA is open to having the union involved.
- The BIG3 held its offseason draft last night in preparation for the league’s second season set to begin on June 22. Andre Owens, an international journeyman who played sparingly with the Jazz and Pacers over a decade ago was the first overall pick. Notable NBA alums, including Jason Maxiell, Quentin Richardson, the original Mike James and Bonzi Wells were also taken over the course of three rounds. Josh Peters of USA Today has a full breakdown of the draft.
- The NBA draft order is set, ahead of the May 15th lottery that is. We broke down what happened when a series of tiebreakers decided the fates of 12 impacted teams.
Suns Rumors: Coaching Search, Booker, Knight
As we relayed earlier today, the Suns reached out to former assistant Dan Majerle to see if he’d have interest in the head coaching position in Phoenix, but were turned down. Despite Majerle’s lack of interest, the club should have no shortage of candidates for the position. GM Ryan McDonough said this week that there are at least five to 10 names on the Suns’ list of targets, per Bob Baum of The Arizona Republic.
While it’s not clear just how quickly the Suns intend to conduct interviews and narrow down their list of candidates, McDonough said that he’d like to have a head coach in place before the draft combine and lottery in May. The lottery is scheduled for May 15, with the combine to follow from May 16-20, so we can probably count on the Suns making a hire within the next month or so.
Here’s more out of Phoenix:
- In the wake of another losing season, Devin Booker says he’s “done with not making the playoffs,” as Baum details. “I’m serious. This is probably my last year ever not making the playoffs. If that’s putting pressure on myself, I’m going to take this summer and work that hard so that it doesn’t happen again.”
- Speaking of Booker, he’ll become extension-eligible for the first time this offseason. While the standout guard didn’t formally commit to inking a new deal in the coming months, he dismissed the speculation that he’s unhappy in Phoenix, according to Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. “Don’t believe in nonsense,” Booker said. “With TV, they need something to talk about. I’ve always mentioned since my first day here that I fell in love with this city, I fell in love with the fan base and the dedication they showed to the team.”
- Brandon Knight is looking forward to getting back on the court in 2018/19 after missing the entire 2016/17 season with a torn ACL, Baum writes. Knight still has two fully guaranteed seasons on his contract, so he figures to be a part of the Suns’ rotation going forward. “I’m just trying to help the Suns in any way I can,” Knight said this week.
- Having finished first in the lottery standings, the Suns are assured of a top-four pick in the first round of this year’s draft. McDonough said this week that he wouldn’t trade that selection unless it’s for a young superstar, tweets Bordow.
Suns Notes: Jones, Booker, Cousins
Fourteen-year NBA veteran James Jones hasn’t had much time to acclimate to his new role as vice president of basketball operations for the Suns but, as Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic writes, the 37-year-old has fallen in love with the position just one year removed from his playing career.
Jones, who focuses on player development while team general manager Ryan McDonough tackles scouting, believes that the club is closer to winning than their record suggests and implies that they need to surround their solid young core with players committed to winning.
“Our young guys have talent that needs to be realized,” Jones said. “I think we need to challenge them to be better, to be great and to continue to put them in a winning environment and surround them with players that want to win at all costs and raise the bar for them from a performance and conditioning standpoint.”
If taken at face value, the club could be looking to take the next step in its rebuild, progressing from the asset accumulation stage that saw them acquire valuable young players like Devin Booker and Josh Jackson to the stage of actually starting to build a winning environment.
The Suns have failed to win 25 games in each of the past three seasons, so a conscious commitment to winning would be a notable development.
“We’ll look to add guys that bring that type of mentality but also we have to create it internally by putting our guys in tough situations, putting our guys in strategic situations that will test their mental toughness, test their level of competitiveness and push them and reveal who they are,” he said.
There’s more out of Phoenix tonight:
- The Suns were said to have an interest in DeMarcus Cousins when he came available for trade during the 2016/17 season. This summer he’ll be a free agent and HoopsHype’s Bryan Kalbrosky suggests that Phoenix, replete with several other former Kentucky Wildcats, could once again explore such an option.
- Count Devin Booker among those confident that the Suns will be aggressive this offseason. “This summer is a big summer for us,” Booker told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “You hear our GM come out and say he’s going to be super aggressive. We have young talent, we have a lot of picks, with a lot of money too. So I think there’s definitely going to be a lot of moves made this summer.“
- The Suns have a pile of interesting young assets and a mandate to capitalize on them so expect an interesting summer in the desert. Did you know that you can get a sneak peek at any rumors that start to swirl in the weeks leading up to the much anticipated 2018 offseason? Follow our Phoenix Suns page or, if you’re using the Trade Rumors app, add the dedicated team feed to your account.
Pacific Notes: Ayton, Wear, Caruso, Fox, Thomas
Potential top pick DeAndre Ayton indicated during a radio interview that he and Devin Booker could form a duo similar to Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant during their Lakers years if he winds up with the Suns, the team’s SB Nation blog The Bright Side tweets. “Honestly, I could see myself in Phoenix,” the University of Arizona freshman center said in a CBS Sports Radio interview. “I could see a little Shaq and Kobe 2.0.” The Suns currently have the worst record in the league and will likely remain there. If they get the No. 1 selection, they could draft Ayton and then trade the first-rounders owed to them by the Heat and Bucks to move up and draft a point guard, according to Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic. If they fall to the No. 2 pick and Ayton is off the board, they would be happy to land Euro guard Luke Doncic and then move those same picks to get frontcourt help, Bordow adds.
In other news around the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers have been forced to recall forward Travis Wear and guard Alex Caruso during the G League playoffs due to injuries, Bill Oram of the Orange County Register notes. They will likely stay with the Lakers for their game against the Jazz on Tuesday if Brandon Ingram is still recovering from a concussion and Lonzo Ball remains sidelined with a knee contusion.
- The Kings want to see rookie point guard De’Aaron Fox take ownership of the team and become a better playmaker during the remaining games, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee reports. Fox needs to realize he can impact the game without having a hot shooting night, coach Dave Joerger told Jones. “He’s got to demand from the rest of his team that he’s the leader, and going forward, set the tone for what he’s looking for,” Joerger said. “And get the ball out faster, or ‘give me some space and I’ll get you a shot.’ Those kinds of things where you go to the next level of leadership or you can kind of just finish the season.”
- Lakers guard Isaiah Thomas will be represented once again by Excel Sports Management, Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal tweets. Sam Goldfeder will be his agent, Mullen adds. Excel had been representing Thomas before signing with Goodwin Sports last fall.
Pacific Notes: Ingram, Booker, Gallinari, Warriors
Lakers forward Brandon Ingram was diagnosed today with a concussion and has been placed in the league’s concussion protocol, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. The injury Ingram suffered Friday in Milwaukee was initially believed to be a neck muscle contusion, and preliminary concussion tests came up negative.
Ingram was hit in the neck in the third quarter, but didn’t tell the training staff about his symptoms until overtime, according to Bill Oram of the SoCal News Group (Twitter link).
The Lakers will once again be without the dynamic second-year forward, who was playing his second game after missing 12 in a row with an injured groin. He is averaging 16.1 points in 59 games and shooting .390 from 3-point range.
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Suns may have a new coach next season, but Devin Booker places a higher priority on who’s on the court than who’s running the team, relays Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. Booker believes coaching won’t be a concern if the talent level is upgraded. “I’ve had three coaches since I’ve been here and I’ve never blamed anything on one of the coaches as an individual,” Booker said. “I’ve had great relationships with all the coaches. I think the NBA just overall, when you need somebody to blame the first person that you go to is the coach. But at the end of the day you need the right players that match each other. Not just the best players. Chemistry helps.”
- Booker refused to say if he stands by a statement he made in October that he would sign a five-year, $156MM extension if the Suns offered it this summer, Bordow adds in the same story. “I mean, that’s a whole other discussion,” Booker said. “A lot goes into that. When that time comes I’ll have to make a decision. … I’ve always said this is the place I want to be so if everything works out, yeah.”
- Clippers forward Danilo Gallinari still had pain in his right hand as he returned to the court Friday, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. He played 24 minutes and scored 11 points, but played with black tape wrapped around the hand. Gallinari had missed 18 games with a non-displaced fracture. “Listen, he was OK,” coach Doc Rivers said. “He was better in the second half. I thought his rhythm may have upset other rhythms. You never know. We need him, and we’re going to use him.”
- Klay Thompson‘s expected return for tonight’s game will result in the Warriors’ 26th different starting lineup of the season, notes Darryl Matsuda of The San Jose Mercury News.