After the Suns were swept in the first round by the Timberwolves, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith dropped the bombshell that Booker is interested in being traded to New York.
“Booker wants to be in New York,” Smith said on Monday’s First Take. “That’s what I’m being told. Now, he might deny it, I haven’t spoken to him. I’m just telling you the scuttlebutt in the NBA circles is that the brother wanna be in New York. So if you’re Phoenix, you’ve got at least two people—probably three—who are all getting paid about $150 million combined who don’t wanna be there.”
Of course, some in the NBA community think that Smith sometimes talks just to hear the sound of his own voice, but The Ringer’s Wosny Lambre has since backed up his claims.
“If you think Stephen A is not tapped in, you’re wrong,” Lambre wrote on X. This ain’t out of thin air. And I’ve heard similar things.
However, PHNX Sports reporter Gerald Bourguet has poured cold water on Smith’s claims as he says, “a source from Devin Booker’s camp who’s intimately familiar with the situation told PHNX Sports that these rumors are unequivocally false.”
Bourguet went on to explain how far back New York’s interest in Booker goes.
“According to that source, the Knicks have been interested in Booker dating back to Leon Rose’s instatement as team president back in 2020,” Bourguet said. “Rose, a former CAA player agent prior to being hired by New York, once served as Booker’s representation, and other Knicks personnel with connections to the 27-year-old Suns star recently put out feelers about his potential interest in coming to New York.”
Suns legend turned NBA analyst Charles Barkley also thinks the rumor has no legs.
“Stephen A. thinks everybody wants to go to New York,” Barkley said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Tuesday morning. “Last few years, it’s been Donovan Mitchell. Last time … KD was a free agent it was New York. Stephen A is a friend of mine, and I love Stephen A, but he wants everyone in New York. He’s not going to die happy until the Knicks win a championship. … You can skip that (rumor).”
One thing is for sure, it’s going to be an interesting summer.
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