The Phoenix Suns’ campaign in the 2024-25 NBA season can be kindly described as a disaster. Teams will be lining up to poach talent from Phoenix this offseason. For the Los Angeles Lakers, there is one key player who would fit like a glove, but does not appear to be available.
The player who should be up for grabs to the highest bidder will be Kevin Durant. Shams Charania reported as much around the time of the Mike Budenholzer firing.
“I’m told the Suns and Durant … will be working together on his next trade home,” Charania told ESPN viewers. “A lot of that will be determined by the playoffs. Which team feels like they’re a Kevin Durant away from winning a championship, we’ll know within the next couple months.”
If the Lakers get bounced earlier than anticipated for the NBA Playoffs, the allure of Durant could be enticing. However, the name value of the Suns superstar exceeds the potential on-court product that could result from his addition. The player Los Angeles should be eyeing is Devin Booker.
The idea of pairing Booker with Luka Doncic is admittedly a little funny, given the history of these two competitors. No one will forget the iconic staredown from Doncic during the 2022 NBA Playoffs any time soon.
The (one-sided) rivalry aside, Booker is exactly the kind of malleable secondary star that any superstar should want to play with.
The star shooting guard has proven adaptable with all the different supporting casts at his side in Phoenix. Of all the problems that the Suns had in the 2024-25 season, it is tough to find fault with Booker too much by comparison to the rest of the organization.
The four-time All-Star is capable of creating for himself and his teammates with the ball in his hands. Booker is equally adept at navigating screens and moving well without it. A great example of Booker’s adaptability would be the 2024 Team USA run when the talented guard was happy to serve whatever role was necessary of him around some of the game’s very best.
The long and short of it: the soon-to-be 29-year-old would thrive playing next to Doncic. There are just a few problems here.
For starters, Phoenix is not presently interested in parting with Booker amid a potential rebuild or retool of the roster. They still reportedly believe their franchise’s future involves the former Kentucky guard donning a Suns jersey.
“He remains the foundation of everything they’re doing in Phoenix,” Charania said of Booker in the same report previously referenced. “Everything else, though, has been up for discussion with the Suns, except for Devin Booker.”
If Phoenix were to shift their stance between now and the offseason, the further complications come from what the actual package looks like and the financial implications of completing the deal.
Booker is projected to have a cap hit around $53.1 million for the 2025-26 NBA season. That means several key pieces will need to be shipped out to make a potential trade work. Adding that kind of contract to the books would also limit the Lakers in terms of the financial flexibility they would have to fill out the roster.
Would LeBron James, with the option to opt out this offseason, be willing to take a significant pay cut upon re-signing to help make the situation work and avoid a scenario similar to Phoenix? That would be the ideal hypothetical sacrifice.
Perhaps the Lakers would be better served fine-tuning what they already have and steering away from a big splash like this. However, the idea to set up Doncic for life after James’ eventual retirement, with a well-fitting star like Booker, is an enticing thought.
