Suns Gov. Ishbia Says Devin Booker Will Be 'Happy' Because Team Will 'Try to Win'
Phoenix Suns governor Mat Ishbia is not worried about his star becoming unhappy because of a lack of wins.
Ishbia said SiriusXM NBA Radio that he doesn't feel pressure to win to keep Devin Booker happy and said Booker will be happy because of the team's effort to win.
"I don't feel any pressure to win to keep Devin happy," Ishbia said. "Devin's gonna be happy because we're going to try to win and we're going to do things that'll be aligned with the vision and identity that he agrees with 1000 percent. I don't need any extra pressure to try to win. We want to win every single day, we want to get better every single day. But expectations have changed. When you have Kevin (Durant), Devin (Booker) and Brad (Beal), people think championship or bust. And we unfortunately busted two years in a row, right? It didn't work. We have Devin Booker. Devin is completely aligned, I'm not concerned about him at all besides that. He is Phoenix basketball, the all-time leading scorer, everyone knows him, loves him, he's great in our community. Devin's part of our future and our present and we're going to build around him and we're gonna hopefully make the fans proud."
Since the Suns made the NBA Finals but came up short against the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, the pressure has been on for the team to deliver a championship to Phoenix. The pressure only intensified when Kevin Durant came to town. When Bradley Beal joined the squad ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, it became, like Ishbia said, championship or bust.
Not only did the trio of Booker, Durant and Beal not deliver a championship, they didn't win a playoff game. Phoenix got swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2024 postseason and missed the playoffs entirely last season.
But things are different now with that trio no longer together following Kevin Durant's trade to the Houston Rockets and Bradley Beal's contract buyout that led to him signing with the Los Angeles Clippers.
The pressure to win won't be completely off of the Suns since they still have Booker plus some solid pieces like Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, but few will be expecting Phoenix to make a title run this year.
It's hard to say whether or not Booker will be unhappy about having a potentially mediocre team, but he trusted the Suns' plans enough to sign a two-year, $145 million max extension that ties him to the organization until 2029.
