Why one media outlet hates Devin Booker's Phoenix Suns contract

Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker's contract was ranked as the fifth-worst in the NBA, according to Bleacher Report's Dan Favale.

He ranked it as such in his "Ranking the 8 Worst Contracts In the NBA After 2026 Free Agency" article posted on Wednesday, July 8.

Booker has $250.6 million in remaining contract value over four years. There is a player option for that fourth season (2029-30).

"Paying someone like a Second Team All-NBA staple when they've made just one All-NBA squad, period, over the past four years is dangerous territory," Favale writes.

All-NBA team selections are regular-season awards. They are not the be-all, end-all gauge of how valuable a player is. The Suns know this, with Booker a top example.

In the 2020-21 season, Booker did not make an All-NBA team. Yet, in the playoffs, he led his team to the NBA Finals as Phoenix's best player. Booker scored 27.3 points per game that postseason, almost two points more than his regular-season average.

Compare this to the 2021-22 season, when Booker was named First Team All-NBA. In the playoffs, the Suns were eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals. Booker scored 23.3 points per game that postseason, which was 3.5 points fewer per game than he scored in the regular season.

The Booker who did not make an All-NBA selection was a better performer than the one who was named First-Team All-NBA.

All-NBA selections do not tell the full story.

Booker has not been an All-NBA selection these past two seasons, but was one of five players in the NBA to average over 26 points per game and six assists per game in the 2025-26 season. He was one of three players to average over 25 points per game, over seven assists per game and over four rebounds per game in the 2024-25 season.

Favale does admit that "Booker is probably better suited to lifting up an inferior supporting cast" than the Cleveland Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell, who he wrote has a better contract than Booker in the ranking.

"He has more levels to his playmaking," Favale said. "But his reliance on mid-range jumpers is at an all-time high, coinciding with a drop in rim frequency compared to just a few years ago. Although Mitchell will face similar challenges and fall into the smaller-guard box, he can lean on a mix of three-point volume and efficiency that Booker has never delivered. That should make for a more graceful aging curve."

Mitchell's "three-point shooting volume and efficiency" have never earned him a trip to the NBA Finals, but to Favale, those attributes are more important than Booker's ability to lift supporting casts.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why one media outlet hates Devin Booker's Phoenix Suns contract