Suns and Booker reach an oral renewal agreement, with a super maximum salary of 320 million in the next five years, promise not to trade

The latest report by Duane Rankin, a reporter from Arizona Sports, said that the Suns and star Devin Booker reached an early renewal of the contract. The new contract is US$150 million for two years, and the original contract is US$170 million for three years. Booker's total contract amount in the next five years will reach US$320 million.

Bryan Gregory has officially become general manager, although he has only one season of experience in managing the team, and his boss Matt Ishbiya authorized him to handle player signing, trading and draft independently. The first thing Gregory did after taking office was to meet and communicate with Booker, and his agent Jessica Holtz also participated in the talks. Gregory made it clear that the core work next was to reconstruct the lineup around Booker and build a team that truly had the ability to win the championship. Gregory had a close relationship with Booker as the Suns' vice president. Both sides trusted each other. Gregory provided Booker with a new contract extension and promised that he would never trade Booker and learn to choose a head coach that Booker likes.

"Gregory will report directly to Ishbiya and approve Booker's early renewal." Duane Rankin said, "Gregory has provided Booker with a two-year, $150 million super maximum salary contract, and the two parties have reached an oral agreement on the new contract." Under the new labor-management agreement, the two-year, $150 million contract is the longest annual salary and highest salary contract that the Suns can give Booker. Booker has played for the Suns for 10 seasons and is also in line with the conditions for signing a maximum contract of 35% of the salary cap. Under the current circumstances, the Suns can only be determined to stay Booker for a long time, deal with Bill's contract, and trade Durant for the bargaining chips.

This season, Booker played in 75 games to score 25.6 points, 7.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds, shooting percentage of 46.1%, and 2.4 three-point shooting percentage of 7.3 times. Booker is only 28 years old and has just entered the peak of his career and is also far better than Durant and Bill. It is very necessary for Gregory to appease the frustrated Booker with a new contract. After the defeated 2024-25 season, the Suns bet on Booker at all costs. Behind this gamble is a comprehensive consideration of loyalty, long-term team building and risk. Booker has also become the top ten scorers in the league, becoming part of the Suns' team culture, and the influence of the locker room is irreplaceable.

"Book is the only player who can bring the Suns together, and it is even far superior to Durant in this regard." Duane Rankin said. Gregory said that the decision to renew Booker's contract is not only based on the competitive level, but also considers its huge commercial value, but also helps the Suns reshape the team culture. With the constant rumors of Durant and Bill's deal, renewing Booker will help stabilize the Suns locker room and benefit the "Phoenix Basketball Revival" plan. After the failed experiment of the Big Three of Durant, Bill and Booker, the senior leaders of the Suns realized that the "super team" model was difficult to adapt to the current basketball trend. Returning to the team building strategy with Booker as the core can not only reduce the risk of lineup running-in, but also bring flexibility to future transactions. Booker's salary this season is $49.21 million, with a current contract of $170 million for three years remaining. After two years of renewal of $150 million, Booker's total contract salary for the next five years will be $320 million. "Book is willing to accept this maximum salary renewal, Gregory told reporters that this is also the highest amount the team can provide at present," Duane Rankin said. Regardless of the new contract of $150 million in two years or the total salary in the next five years, Booker's contract is far more than the draft pick of the same year, and he left the second place Russell far behind. There is no doubt that Booker's career performance and salary income have become the number one player in the draft in 2015.

Gregory not only reached an oral contract renewal with Booker, but also promised not to trade Booker. There have been news that the Rockets hope to get Booker through a trade and are willing to return the draft picks in the next few years to the Suns at the cost. Gregory came forward to assure that no trade negotiations would include Booker. After the Rockets were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, they hoped to introduce a high-level scorer. The Suns' contract renewal with Booker is basically equivalent to breaking the Rockets' idea of ​​getting Booker. Gregory renewed Booker and announced the end of the James Jones era. Next is to trade Durant to clear Bill’s bad contract.

"Ishbiya supports Gregory's decision to renew Booker in advance." Duane Rankin said, and it is expected that the two sides will complete the specific procedures for renewal soon.