Devin Booker is not one of the NBA’s worst contracts right now, even if CBS tried to make the case by slotting him sixth on its list of the league’s 15 worst deals.
That ranking feels premature. Booker is still a player who would send teams scrambling if he ever became available.
At 29, he would draw a massive market immediately, the kind of response that would turn a fringe team into a real player overnight. A club like New Orleans, the source notes, would become relevant fast if Booker landed there.
The money is huge, no doubt about it. He is owed more than $250 million over the next four years, and that number is set to rise close to $70 million by the end of the deal.
That’s the part that could eventually make the contract look ugly. But the article’s point is simple: that time hasn’t arrived yet.
If Booker were on the block today, the return would be enormous. Multiple first-round picks would be in play, along with either a star of comparable value if the salaries matched up, or a blue-chip prospect plus additional pieces. That is not the profile of a player with a truly bad contract.
For Phoenix, the deal still makes sense because Booker means more to the Suns than he would to anyone else. That is why the franchise was willing to hand him the extension in the first place. He remains a cornerstone and a productive piece, and those two things still justify the price.
There is also a little irony baked into CBS’s list. De’Aaron Fox sits above Booker on the ranking, even though the source says Fox would have been the ideal backcourt fit in The Valley. His own contract made that pairing impossible, and he is also described as several rungs below Booker in the league hierarchy.
Still, the warning sign is there for the future. Booker will turn 30 soon, and if Phoenix misses the playoffs while committing to a core that includes Dillon Brooks and Miles Bridges, then sixth on this list may not look harsh enough a year or two from now.
For now, though, the verdict is clear: CBS jumped the gun.
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There has also been a broader effort to add talent without disturbing the balance of the group, with Mikal Bridges and Luke Kennard joining the mix through trades and free agency. For a team trying to sustain momentum, the real question is less about the volume of moves and more about how quickly all the new and returning pieces fit together. The Suns have done their part to double down on the present, and now the season will have to show whether that bet was the right one. [Read more 🡒]