Don’t trade for Devin Booker

7 reasons getting huge-salary stars mid-career dooms your team

BY HENRY ABBOTT

There’s nothing wrong with Devin Booker. He’s a wonderful NBA player. But don’t trade for him. CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES

Last weekend, I read an Athletic story musing about the Suns’ nuclear option of trading their 28-year-old homegrown star for a treasure trove of young players and picks. My first thought was: don’t be the other team.

There are seven reasons it’ll never work out, and one tiny little caveat.

1. Stephen Curry $55,761,216

2. Joel Embiid $51,415,938

3. Nikola Jokić $51,415,938

4. Kevin Durant $51,179,021

5. Bradley Beal $50,203,930

6. Jaylen Brown $49,205,800

7. Devin Booker $49,205,800

8. Karl-Anthony Towns $49,205,800

9. Paul George $49,205,800

10. Kawhi Leonard $49,205,800

11. Jimmy Butler $48,798,677

12. Giannis Antetokounmpo $48,787,676

13. Damian Lillard $48,787,676

14. LeBron James $48,728,845

15. Zach LaVine $44,531,940

16. Rudy Gobert $43,827,586

17. Anthony Davis $43,219,440

18. Luka Dončić $43,031,940

19. Trae Young $43,031,940

20. Fred VanVleet $42,846,615

21. Anthony Edwards $42,176,400

22. Tyrese Haliburton $42,176,400

23. Lauri Markkanen $42,176,400

24. Pascal Siakam $42,176,400

25. Kyrie Irving $41,000,000

Reason #1: Devin Booker makes a ton of money.

These are the 25 highest salaries in the NBA. It’s a weird conundrum. Yes it’s true that these are the NBA’s superstars, who dominate the postseason. Only one out of 30 teams wins a title every year; eleven of these 25 players have rings. Many have multiple. Without a player on this list, you probably won’t contend.

If you look at who “won” the offseason or trade deadline, almost every year it’s whichever team landed one of these studs. But for all the media plaudits doled out to Prokhorov’s Nets for getting Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George going to the Clippers, the Joe Tsai Nets landing Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Bucks for uniting Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Ishbia Suns hauling in Bradley Beal and Durant, the Knicks for scoring Karl-Anthony Towns. But is it a coincidence that none of those teams has come close to winning a title?

The first reason is that evidently it matters deeply how you get your star.

Draft one of those studs, or trade for them on a rookie deal, and there’s an OK chance they’ll lead you to a title. But if you get them (by trade or free agency) only after they have aged into the league’s highest salary tier, and recent history suggests you’ll only win a title if you also have LeBron or Steph in their primes. (Which, let’s be honest, you don’t.)

How can it be that trading for a player on this list doesn’t work?

Reason #2: Players peak, and win titles, younger than you think