NBA fans have shared their reaction to a “crazy” $72.5 million a year contract just signed by a four-time All-Star.
Free agency has seen the NBA’s superstars sign record-breaking contracts. 2025 Champions, Oklahoma City Thunder, have been the biggest spenders. They signed 2025 MVP
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a four-year, $285 million deal and Chet Holmgren to a five-year, $250 million rookie extension.
But another team has surpassed Gilgeous-Alexander’s record-breaking salary with a monster deal of their own.
NBA fans react to Devin Booker’s $145 million deal
It’s an eye-popping number for Devin Booker, the Phoenix Suns’ all-time leading scorer at just 28 years old. $145 million is the highest annual extension salary in NBA history.
There is some debate surrounding the level of player that Booker is, but Suns fans value him immensely and were delighted to see him signed.
One fan said on X, “DESERVED FOR PUTTING UP WITH THOSE DISGUSTING EARLY SUNS TEAMS IDC”.
Another added, “No doubt in my mind that with a great situation around him, he will show everybody exactly why he’s worth the money.”
More neutral NBA fans, without an attachment to Booker, thought this was a massive overpay for a player who has underdelivered in the last few seasons. As Kevin Durant’s teammate, Booker and the Suns failed to make the play-in last season.
One fan said he was overvalued, “I don’t understand why we’re STILL pretending Devin Booker is some kind of supermax superstar.
“Dude will be 29 this season. There’s no hidden superstar leap coming. We know what teams look like with Book as the best player. It’s over. It’s been over.”
Another fan pointed out that Booker has crippled his team’s salary cap flexibility by taking such a huge deal, saying, “‘I need help’ -takes 70m a year”.
It’s a huge number, there’s no escaping that. Whether you believe this is the right move for the Suns, the fact that they have the ability to pay a player this amount of money is a story in itself.
One fan pointed out how much Booker will make per game in the regular season, saying “$885,000 for every game is crazy”.
Another credited the exponential growth of the NBA, adding, “Pretty incredible that just 10 years ago, the historically great 2015-16 NBA season, the team salary cap number was $70 million, less than Devin Booker’s single-season salary per season with this extension. Amazing growth”.
Devin Booker is back to square one after the Phoenix Suns’ offseason
Booker can hardly be blamed for taking such a monster contract. He put in the hard yards for the Suns once he was drafted, putting up huge numbers on a losing team.
He was quickly a 20 points per game scorer, averaging 25 in his third season with the Suns. Booker became the sixth player ever to score 70 points in a game in 2017, but his elite scoring didn’t impact winning.
That was until the 2020 NBA bubble, where Booker and the Suns won 12 straight games in a late attempt to make the playoffs. The next year they made the 2021 NBA Finals. The Suns lost to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, but looked to be on an upward trajectory.
Since then, it’s been a series of disappointments. Durant coming to town gave Phoenix title aspirations, but after two full seasons, that experiment is over.
Durant was traded to the Houston Rockets, then DeAndre Ayton signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Bradley Beal looks to be on the move this summer.
Booker is once again a man alone, and while he just secured a generational payday, he is back to square one from a competitive standpoint.