The Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns did business this past summer, completing the NBA’s biggest blockbuster involving Kevin Durant landing in the Space City. Is it possible the two could do business again, involving the Suns’ other superstar?
Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley believes so.
Buckley proposed a five-player deal that’d bring Devin Booker to Houston and send out Fred VanVleet, Reed Sheppard, Tari Eason, Steven Adams, and the Suns’ own 2027 first-round pick to Phoenix.
“Booker still looks like a hand-in-glove fit for Houston. He can share the floor with Durant and is a better timeline fit for the young core. And the Rockets are so stacked with assets, they could conceivably get Booker without decimating their collection. It'd be a pricey pickup, sure, but they'd still push forward with both Amen Thompson and Alperen Şengün,” Buckley wrote.
“Phoenix, meanwhile, would ditch this idea of readjusting on the fly around Booker and instead get fully focused on its future. Sheppard, last year's No. 3 pick, would be a pivotal piece of that plan, as would the versatile Eason (who could be swapped out for Jeff Green if Phoenix preferred more picks instead).”
The Suns seem set on making things work with Booker, who took the team to the NBA Finals in 2021. While the franchise has seen high-end draft picks like Dragan Bender, Josh Jackson, Jarrett Culver, and Jalen Smith come through the door and exit just as quickly, Booker has been a beacon of stability in the desert.
Only the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry, Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid, and Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic have been with one team as long as Booker has been with the Suns.
That was under Robert Sarver. The Matt Ishbia regime hasn’t had the chance to land transformational lottery talents yet. While the franchise has historically not drafted well, getting their picks back at least takes the team out of the purgatory Sarver’s regime, and Ishbia’s honeymoon period, since he was in charge when the team traded for KD, put them in.