The idea of Devin Booker landing with the Clippers may sound clever on paper, but the fit just doesn’t hold up once you strip away the speculation.
That’s the line of thinking behind Yossi Gozlan’s recent conversation with Sam Quinn of CBS, where the discussion turned to what LA might do after its future was hammered by the Kawhi Leonard scandal. Gozlan floated Booker as a possible target down the road, placing him in the same general bucket as other high-priced veterans.
"They could probably get more of an older, aging vet on a really bad contract. You mentioned Joel Embiid, I would throw in Devin Booker in that category.
Donovan Mitchell, if things go wrong with the Cavs. A guy who is around 30 and just has a very big, 35 percent max contract.
I could see them getting one of those guys."
There is logic in the broad idea. The Clippers will almost certainly need to chase an established star to stay relevant through the rest of the decade before their draft picks return to the picture. Booker, though, is a different matter entirely.
For one thing, Mat Ishbia has made it clear again this offseason that Booker is not going anywhere while he is running the Suns. Phoenix has kept building around him, and the organization still treats him as the face of the franchise.
Even if the Suns’ situation changes and the 2026-27 season ends up being Booker's last in The Valley, the Clippers still would not be the team to get him. They simply do not have the assets to win a bidding war if Phoenix ever opened the door.
That’s the core problem for both sides: the Suns and Clippers each sit in bleak places for the future, and neither can really offer the kind of haul that would make the other comfortable moving off a star. In the meantime, Phoenix keeps the one thing that still gives it real weight around the league - a legitimate star in Booker.
The other issue is uglier than the trade chatter itself: Booker’s contract has become one of the league’s most burdensome. He is due more than $60 million over the next two seasons, and then the Suns would likely be staring at another max deal. That is a hard pill to swallow for a team already flirting with the second apron and still not close to the NBA Finals.
Miles Bridges only complicates matters further. He may help on the floor, but his presence also brings extension questions that could squeeze the roster even more.
At some point, trading Booker may be the only clean exit from the mess. If that day ever comes, though, the Clippers are not positioned to be the landing spot.
In Other News...
Devin Booker Just Got A Reminder Of How The League Sees Him
Devin Bookers place in the leagues pecking order got a small but noticeable nudge this preseason, with ESPN slotting the Suns guard 20th in its player rankings. It is the kind of reminder that can feel louder than the move itself, especially for a player who has long been judged not just on scoring, but on how he carries a team that now leans on him more heavily than it did a year ago.
Bookers profile last season came with more on his plate after the exits of Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Chris Paul, and ESPNs evaluation folded in both his changing responsibilities and the dip in his efficiency. There is still the familiar sense of Booker as the Suns benchmark star, but the ranking conversation also reflects the reality that the league is weighing production, context and projection all at once, leaving his standing as much a talking point as a verdict. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Training Camp Just Put Several Rotation Spots In Play
Training camp is already shaping up as a real battleground for the Suns, with several players entering the mix for rotation minutes before the season even gets going. Jalen Green is expected to have a role, but nothing about his place feels locked in yet, and Jamaree Bouyea is among the players trying to make enough noise to carve out a spot on a crowded roster.
Ryan Dunn is also in the middle of that fight, getting a chance to show what he can do as Phoenix sorts through its options. The camp competition has only become more interesting because the Suns are dealing with a fresh opening that could shift how the frontcourt is managed, and that gives Dunn a path to playing time if he can take advantage of it. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Have A Collin Gillespie Question That Could Reshape The Backcourt
Collin Gillespies place in the Suns backcourt has become one of those rotation questions that can quietly shape a season. After spending last year as a starting guard for much of the way, he is now back in a reserve role, first off the bench behind Devin Booker and Jalen Green, and the shift says as much about the roster around him as it does about Gillespie himself. For Phoenix, the issue is not simply whether he can help, but whether his best value comes as a stabilizing second-unit piece or as someone who can handle a larger role when the lineup gets tight.
There is reason for the Suns to keep revisiting it. Gillespies starts last season were useful enough to keep him in the conversation, but they also came in a stretch when the teams guard picture was constantly changing and necessity played a big part in his workload. With Green now in the starting group, Phoenix has a different look at the position, yet the comparison only sharpens the question of whether Gillespies earlier run was a glimpse of a bigger role to come or simply the product of a team patching holes as best it could. [Read more 🡒]