320 million in 5 years! 28-year-old Devin Booker, is it worth it?

Everyone knows that the Suns this season are disappointing.

However, the Suns' poor performance that cannot even make the playoffs does not seem to affect Booker's contract.

Recently, famous reporter Marc Stein revealed in a column that Booker is eligible for a two-year, 149.8 million early renewal from July 7. It is generally believed in the league that the Suns will provide Booker with such a contract.

It should be said that this is not the first time that similar news has been heard. As early as the regular season ended, ESPN famous reporter Brian Windhorst said that once Booker can renew his contract in advance, the Suns will put this two-year, 150 million contract in front of him.

Let's talk about Booker's situation first. His current contract will only expire in 2028. His annual salary this season is 49.21 million, and the remaining three years are 53.14 million, 57.08 million, and 61.02 million respectively. The total contract amount in the three-year period exceeds US$170 million.

If Booker really renews his contract, his contract will be extended to 2030, with a total amount of more than 320 million in the remaining five years, an average of more than 64 million in one year, and even more than 76 million in the last year. What is the roughly concept of

? LeBron James played in the NBA for 22 years, and until his 17th year, his total career salary exceeded $300 million, but Booker could take away 320 million in the next five years, which is crazy.

On the one hand, we are amazed at the speed of NBA salary increase, which has a lot to do with Xiao Hua's operation. The effectiveness of the new broadcast contract is destined to increase the salary of players in the next few years. Players like Edwards, Wenban Yama, and Flag may have the opportunity to have an annual salary of over 100 million in the future.

On the other hand, back to Booker, the question is also very direct: is it worth it?

If it is in 2021 or 2022, there may be no suspense about this issue, but at this point in time, it is difficult not to question it.

As we said, the Suns have completely failed this season. Their total expenditure exceeded 400 million, and they were in the top two in the league, but they did not even score in the playoffs. There are many reasons behind it. As one of the team's stars, Booker must have a lot of responsibility.

In the regular season, Booker played a total of 75 games, averaging 37.3 minutes per game, scoring 25.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.1 assists, and 0.9 steals. His three shooting percentage was 46.1%/33.2%/89.4%, and his real shooting percentage was 58.9%.

Booker ranked second in the league in terms of playing time, and his score is ninth in the league and his assists are tenth in the league. The league scope is OK, but compared with Booker himself, this season is already relatively poor. For comparison, Booker's average score per game in the past three seasons is: 26.8 points, 27.8 points, and 27.1 points. In the past two years, Booker's real shooting percentage has exceeded 60%, which can be said to be high-yield and efficient.

Compared to his own offense, Booker has focused some of his energy on organization and passing in the past two years. His assists have also set a career highest for two consecutive years, but he has also made quite a few mistakes. This season, the average assist and turnover ratio is only 2.4, which is not excellent.

and, this change does not seem to make the Suns better, at least from the data:

- When Booker is on the court, the Suns lost 3.2 points in a hundred rounds

- Booker is not on the court, the Suns lost 2.8 points in a hundred rounds

Note this data, this season, Durant, Booker and Bill have played 37 games together, and when the three are on the court at the same time, the Suns lost 4.1 points in a hundred rounds. The three giants with a net worth of 50 million have been combined to achieve this, and it is almost only a matter of time before they disband.

Only talk about Booker. I personally think that his offensive ability does not need to be doubted. Although there has been a decline this season, Booker is still very trustworthy from his performance throughout his career. He is a multi-faceted offensive player who can end at the basket, mid-range, and outside the three-point line.

The main problem is that the Sun's use of him is not appropriate. Ideally, Booker is more suitable to be a final point rather than a ball-holding character, which can also be proved from the success of the Sun in 2021 and 2022.

The good thing is that Budenholzer is out of class, and the new coach has also been confirmed to be the Cavaliers assistant coach Jordan Ultra. It is reported that Booker participated in the Suns' coach selection process in the final stage, so the two sides should have communicated about the future.

However, the Suns will be very unstable next season. After all, even if Durant leaves (basically determined), Bill is still there, and Booker and Bill are very terrible in compatibility. When they are on the court, they will lose 7.9 points in a net loss to their opponents in 100 rounds, which is quite exaggerated.

In this context, people inevitably have questions, is the Sun renewing Booker's contract three years in advance? Are you a little too anxious?

If you are MVP-level players like Jokic, Alexander, and Antetokounmpo, there will definitely be no problem with renewing your contract three years in advance, but is Booker a player of this level? I think the answer is very clear - no, in fact, Booker has never even scored in the playoffs before partnering with Paul, and has only had two best teams in his entire career.

The only reason I can think of is that the Suns want to make Booker a totem player in the team, or the Suns are taking advantage of this opportunity to raise the price for Booker, sell him at a high price during the offseason, and then completely rebuild it - since Doncic can trade, it is entirely possible for Booker to be traded..

For Booker, since the Suns are willing to give a big contract, don't hesitate. However, judging from last season, Booker's performance has not reached the level of renewal of three years in advance. I hope that in the new season, we can see Booker, who was the best team and the top five in MVP three years ago.