Sports
Suns are NBA cautionary tale, and Devin Booker trade is the only card left to play
Patience.
If I could boil down one thing that separates winners from suckers in the NBA, that’s it. The winners have it, and they prey on the chumps who don’t over and over again. The Phoenix Suns are just the latest, and most extreme, in a long line of examples, and it’s left them in a position where moving the franchise’s all-time leading scorer is about the only card left to play.
I’ll get to that latter point in a second, but first, the big picture.
Patience costs nothing. It requires no advanced degree, special relationships or analytics gurus. Yet I’d argue it’s more important to running an NBA franchise than salary-cap management, scouting or anything else. The simple ability to wait things out, rather than jump in recklessly and sacrifice future success for fleeting short-term gains, is a massive difference-maker. In my many years of covering the league and working in a front office (I was the Memphis Grizzlies’ vice president of basketball operations from 2012-19), the examples are almost too numerous to enumerate.
With the Suns, the league’s most expensive and short-term-focused team, having cratered out of Play-In Tournament contention after Wednesday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, we’re witnessing how costly impatience can be. It’s amazing to look back and realize that just three short years ago, the Suns went 64-18, and the Thunder were 24-58. What’s more amazing is that the Suns weren’t even old. Sure, they had Chris Paul, but the other four starters that season were 23, 25, 25 and 25.
What’s happened since then is almost a case study in what successful organizational patience — and failing organizational impatience — looks like.
The Thunder are set up to dominate the NBA for the next decade, while the Suns will be doormats for the foreseeable future. They won’t be strategically bad, tanking for high picks through a short window. They’ll just be … bad … year after year, while other teams net the rewards by drafting future stars with draft picks the Suns gave away.
Oklahoma City’s origin story, of course, stems from another organization’s impatience, pulling out of the tailspinning endgame of the Russell Westbrook era by acquiring a future MVP candidate and five first-round picks from the LA Clippers for Paul George; one of those firsts has already yielded another All-Star in Jalen Williams.
Since then, however, the Thunder’s patience has been even more notable. Even as the team elevated to contenders and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to superstardom, they’ve resisted the urge to throw in their horde of future draft picks on splash trades, or to stop playing the long game on draft night. Notably, they traded down to improve their cap position in 2023 and drafted an injured Nikola Topić in 2024. They’re OK waiting for the payoff. The one time they went away from this, the since-regretted Gordon Hayward trade, was also a stealth salary dump that greased the wheels for signing Isaiah Hartenstein last summer.
You can see echoes of those choices in the success of the other two teams dominating the league right now, the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics, of course, were born from the Brooklyn Nets’ catastrophic impatience, parlaying the rapidly diminishing Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett core into Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. More recently, they’ve moved picks to add core players such as Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis — but have never traded more than two firsts at a time.
Yes, the Cavs jumped at the chance to get Donovan Mitchell, but their success this year owes just as much to the moves they didn’t make — not trading Jarrett Allen or Darius Garland after the last two seasons ended in playoff failure — and fortifying the bench with home-grown 20-somethings such as Dean Wade, Sam Merrill and Ty Jerome.
Meanwhile, the Suns serve as a cautionary tale for the rest of the league. Only Devin Booker remains from 2022: Chris Paul is a Spur, Cam Johnson is a Net, Mikal Bridges is a Knick, and Deandre Ayton is a Blazer.
But in 2023, new owner Mat Ishbia rushed in to overpay with four unprotected firsts for Kevin Durant — even throwing in Bridges when he, it turns out, netted five more first-round picks for Brooklyn as a result of another franchise’s impatience. Ishbia and his management team followed it up with even more egregiously bad short-term-focused decisions. The Suns have traded every single one of their own draft picks through 2031, are already pushing close to next year’s projected collective bargaining agreement second-apron threshold and are the proud owners of what is, hands down, the league’s worst contract (Bradley Beal, who has a no-trade clause and is owed more than $110 million over the next two seasons).
The Durant deal was an egregious overpay, but at least they got Kevin freakin’ Durant out of it. The Beal trade? That was the icing on the cake for this particular reign of error.
After the Washington Wizards’ own punishing lack of patience for a rebuild left them in a situation where they would have to rebuild anyway, just without the assets, Phoenix rescued the Wizards by not only taking on Beal’s unwanted contract but also sending back four pick swaps and five second-rounders. Washington would have likely done the deal for a much lower price just to be rid of Beal’s boat-anchor of a contract (“free” comes to mind), but the Suns were so impatient they couldn’t even negotiate; they just gave the Wizards everything they had.
The cherry on top of this sundae? The 39-year-old Paul — the guy Phoenix wanted to get rid of in the Beal trade and used as the matching salary — now makes one-fifth as much and is still a better player.
Bradley Beal’s still has more than $110 million remaining on his contract. (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
Yes, there are times to push chips in and go for it, individual situations where a team has, say, a 40-year-old generational superstar at the very tail end of his prime. Even then, I’d argue, patience has been rewarded.
The Lakers didn’t jump on bad deals with three first-round picks burning a hole in their pocket, and as a result, they had enough left in the bank to pull off the Luka Dončić trade. Similarly, the Golden State Warriors didn’t have to trade everything to bring in Jimmy Butler for the tail end of Stephen Curry’s prime, and in the meantime, they brought along multiple younger players (most notably the recently scorching Brandin Podziemski) to help the vets along.
So now, Phoenix, here is your next test: Your team is bad right now and about to be worse, because you have no draft picks and no cap flexibility, and nearly all your best players are old. Houston Rockets fans are openly laughing as you limp to the finish line and hand them a mid-to-high lottery pick; they traded for this pick with Brooklyn in June because they were betting on your impatience to result in a faceplant, and they’re about to clean up. (Houston’s patience is another fine counterexample, by the way; the Rockets are the second seed in the Western Conference.)
There’s only one move left on the table, and it requires the one thing you’ve lacked since Ishbia bought the team: patience. The Suns have to start over, and I mean all the way over.
It’s basically assumed in league circles that the Suns will trade Durant, but in truth, that’s just the first step. Trading Durant is an essential starting point, but he’s 36 and only has one year left on his deal. Even an extend-and-trade scenario won’t net the mountainous haul in picks or young talent that would make you any more optimistic about Phoenix’s future.
That takes us to the next biggest name on the list: Booker. He loves the Valley, and the Valley loves him. But he’ll be 29 on opening day next season and has three years left on his deal. His trade value will never be higher, and at this point, he’d likely bring back more in a trade than Durant would.
What’s the alternative? Doing the Damian Lillard Special and winning 30 games with Booker next year while waiting for him to demand a trade out of a hopeless situation? And what if he either gets injured or starts showing signs of decline, and rivals blanch at paying him $171 million over the next three years? At this point, I’d argue keeping him is far riskier than trading him.
In all likelihood, there is only one truly viable exit point: The Suns have to trade Booker and Durant to the Rockets to get their picks back. Houston controls the Suns’ pick this year, as well as those in 2027 and 2029. (Again: Brilliant work, Rockets.)
Phoenix can’t do anything about the 2026 pick, but in a hypothetical deal with the Rockets, the Suns would get their lottery pick this June back from the Rockets, get Jalen Green back as a salary match and entertain the fans with some empty calories en route to a couple of 23-win seasons. They could then grab another high pick in 2027 and hope to come out on the other end of a multi-year tank job in a few years the way teams like Oklahoma City, Cleveland and Houston did.
Ditching the contracts of Booker and Durant is nearly as important as getting the draft picks back, as the Suns are in danger of having future draft picks frozen and/or pushed to the end of the first round as a result of again finishing above the second apron. (Phoenix’s 2032 first is frozen and can’t be traded and will be moved to the end of the first round if the Suns finish two or more of the next four seasons above the second apron.)
If that sounds dire, this scenario is pretty close to a best case for the Suns. No team in the last four decades has faced a situation anywhere close to this hopeless, and that’s with Donald Sterling owning a team in three of them. If the Suns instead keep Booker and try to scrape their way to the Play-In every year, they’re basically a worse, more hopeless reincarnation of Beal’s Wizards.
Unfortunately, that’s what a lack of patience gets you in today’s NBA. It’s the one resource available to management that requires no money and no talent, and yet it remains in incredibly short supply. Ishbia and his team should ponder that during the extended time off they’ll have before the league’s next transaction cycle begins.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; top photo of Devin Booker: Brian Babineau / NBAE via Getty Images)
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We’re approaching the biggest sporting event North America has ever hosted.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup takes place across the USA, Canada and Mexico in 13 days.
Bettors and fans already have their sights set on the global spectacle, which will kick off on June 11. The World Cup final will be held at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on July 19, 2026.
After the World Cup groups were announced in December, Spain opened as the favorite at +450, followed by England (+550) and France (+750).
Now, with less than two weeks to go, Spain has slightly drifted to +475, with both France and England making up ground on the oddsboard.
Let’s dive into the odds via DraftKings Sportsbook as of May 29.
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2026 World Cup winner odds
Spain: +475 (bet $10 to win $57.5 total)
France: +500 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
England: +650 (bet $10 to win $75 total)
Brazil: +850 (bet $10 to win $95 total)
Argentina: +900 (bet $10 to win $100 total)
Portugal: +1000 (bet $10 to win $110 total)
Germany: +1400 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Netherlands: +2200 (bet $10 to win $230 total)
Norway: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)
Belgium: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)
Colombia: +4000 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Morocco: +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total)
Uruguay: +5000 (bet $10 to win $510 total)
United States: +6000 (bet $10 to win $610 total)
Switzerland: +6500 (bet $10 to win $660 total)
Japan: +6500 (bet $10 to win $660 total)
Mexico: +8000 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Croatia: +8000 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Ecuador: +8000 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Senegal: +9000 (bet $10 to win $910 total)
Sweden: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
HOST NATIONS
United States
The United States is led by Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, and Chris Richards, with several players competing in Europe’s top leagues. The U.S. has appeared in 11 previous World Cups, with its best finish coming in 1930 when the team reached the semifinals.
Canada
Canada’s key players include Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David, giving the squad top-tier pace and goal-scoring ability. Canada has made two previous World Cup appearances, and is still looking for its first win ever in the tournament.
Mexico
Mexico’s top contributors include Raul Giménez and Edson Álvarez, forming a strong mix of attacking talent and midfield stability. Mexico has played in 17 previous World Cups and reached the quarterfinals twice, in 1970 and 1986.
UEFA TEAMS TO KNOW
Spain
Spain’s top talents include Pedri, Lamine Yamal and Rodri, forming a core that blends elite playmaking with scoring depth. Spain has appeared in 16 previous World Cups and won the tournament once, lifting the trophy in 2010. The team also won the 2024 Euros.
France
France enters with Kylian Mbappé as the star player, with the 26-year-old just five goals shy of passing Miroslav Klose (16) for the most career goals at the World Cup. France has made 16 previous World Cup appearances and won the title twice, in 1998 and 2018.
England
England’s key players include Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice, forming one of the nation’s strongest generations in decades. England has reached 16 previous World Cups and won the trophy once, in 1966.
Germany
Germany features Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Joshua Kimmich as central figures in a talented squad. Germany has participated in 20 previous World Cups and won four titles, most recently in 2014.
Portugal
Portugal’s top group includes Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, with Cristiano Ronaldo still involved as the team’s all-time leading scorer and cap leader. Portugal has competed in eight previous World Cups and recorded its best finish in 2006, reaching the semifinals.
Netherlands
The Netherlands features top players such as Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Denzel Dumfries, forming a core built around elite defending and midfield control. Memphis Depay should also be on the team, the country’s all-time leading goalscorer. The Netherlands has appeared in 11 previous World Cups and finished as runner-up three times, in 1974, 1978 and 2010.
CONMEBOL TEAMS TO KNOW
Argentina
Argentina is anchored by Lionel Messi, with Julián Álvarez, Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez— headlining one of the most talented rosters in the tournament. Argentina has played in 18 previous World Cups and won three, including the most recent tournament in 2022.
Brazil
Brazil’s roster is led by Vinícius Júnior, Raphinha and Marquinhos, giving the team elite attacking and defensive quality. Brazil has appeared in every World Cup and holds a record five titles, with its most recent one coming in 2002.
Uruguay
Uruguay’s leading players include Federico Valverde, Darwin Núñez and Ronald Araújo, forming a core with elite midfield range and speed. Uruguay has appeared in 14 previous World Cups and won the tournament twice, in 1930 and 1950.
Colombia
Colombia is headlined by Luis Díaz and James Rodríguez, with the former playing for Bayern Munich and the latter having a decorated World Cup résumé. Colombia has made six previous World Cupsand recorded its best finish in 2014, reaching the quarterfinals.
CAF TEAMS TO KNOW
Morocco
Morocco’s key contributors include Achraf Hakimi, Noussair Mazaroui and Brahm Díaz, each with major European club experience. Morocco has appeared in six previous World Cups and achieved its historic best finish in 2022, reaching the semifinals.
Senegal
Senegal’s top players include Sadio Mané, Kalidou Koulibaly and Idrissa Gueye, forming one of Africa’s most experienced cores. Senegal has appeared in three World Cups and reached its best finish in 2002, advancing to the quarterfinals.
Ghana
Ghana is led by Mohammed Kudus, Antoine Semenyo and Inaki Williams, giving the squad strong playmaking and midfield presence. Ghana has competed in four previous World Cups and reached its best result in 2010, making the quarterfinals.
AFC TEAMS TO KNOW
South Korea
South Korea is headlined by Son Heung-min, supported by key players such as Kim Min-jae and Lee Kang-in. South Korea has played in 11 previous World Cups and reached its best finish in 2002, advancing to the semifinals as co-host.
Japan
Japan features Takefusa Kubo and Kaoru Mitoma as its leading players, blending top European experience with emerging talent. Japan has appeared in seven previous World Cups and reached the Round of 16 four times, its best result to date.
Australia
Australia’s top players include Jackson Irvine and keeper Mathew Ryan as its most experienced members. Australia has competed in six previous World Cups and reached the round of 16 twice, in 2006 and 2022.
OFC TEAMS TO KNOW
New Zealand
New Zealand is led by all-time leading scorer Chris Wood, with 45 international goals to his name. New Zealand has appeared in two previous World Cups (1982, 2010), and did not advance from the group stage in either appearance.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander apparently isn’t amused by a new board game that pokes fun at the Oklahoma City Thunder star’s reputation for garnering foul calls at the hint of contact by an opposing player.
Last week, a lawyer representing the two-time reigning NBA MVP sent a cease-and-desist letter to sports prediction market and fantasy sports company Underdog that includes a demand for the destruction of all copies of the cheeky and extremely limited-edition game Unethical Hoops.
Done in the style of the children’s classic Operation, Unethical Hoops requires players to use tweezers to pull objects from tiny holes, with the slightest touch of a metal border setting off a buzzer indicating failure.
Instead of pretending to be doctors attempting to remove body parts from a patient, however, Unethical Hoops players act as members of an opposing basketball team trying to take the ball from a cartoon character who very much resembles Gilgeous-Alexander.
In this game, the buzzer represents the whistle of a foul-calling referee.
“Shai has made hoops all about foul baiting and now you’re stuck guarding him in Underdog’s new board game,” a description reads on the game’s website. “Don’t get baited. Steal the ball without getting whistled.”
In a letter dated May 22, attorney Eric Fishman of ArentFox Schiff LLP demanded that Underdog “immediately and permanently cease and desist from any and all use of Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander’s NIL in any and all media, including but not limited to your website (including the Unethical Hoops Website)… and any physical goods including but not limited to the board game advertised on the Unethical Hoops Website.”
The notice also calls for Underdog to “immediately destroy all physical goods or advertisements that use Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander’s NIL, including but not limited to the board game advertised on the Unethical Hoops Website,” as well as a promise never to use the star player’s name, image or likeness without his permission.
Fishman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Times.
According to the Unethical Hoops website, which remains active more than a week after the date on the cease-and-desist order, only 100 copies of the game were made, to be given away to Underdog users. The giveaway ended as scheduled on Friday.
Underdog declined to comment on the matter other than to point out that the company has pulled comical stunts at the expense of members of the sports world.
“We’ve poked fun at Knicks and Lakers fans, the Red Sox owners, the Mets and more,” a spokesperson said via email. “We like to have some fun with whatever is in the sports fan zeitgeist.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is a four-time All-Star who led the league in scoring last season (2,484 points) and was second in scoring this season (2,117). He led the Thunder to their first NBA title last year and has them back in the Western Conference finals this year (the decisive Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs is Saturday in Oklahoma City).
While one of the NBA’s biggest stars, Gilgeous-Alexander is often criticized for the number of favorable foul calls he receives — he has ranked second or third in the league for number of free throw attempts per game in each of the last four seasons and is currently second among all players in the 2026 playoffs with 9.8 a game — and the lengths he appears to go to in order to receive them.
After Game 2 against the Spurs, one NBA fan account on X wrote, “Shai flopped on every single shot attempt” and posted a video that showed seven such examples (Gilgeous-Alexander actually attempted 24 shots that night). The post has been viewed 22.7 million times.
Earlier this week, prior to Game 6 of the conference finals, another fan account on X posted a video “ranking all 44 times SGA fell on the floor while shooting during the 2026 playoffs from least to most egregious.” That post has been viewed 1.3 million times.
As the cartoon likeness of Gilgeous-Alexander states in the Unethical Hoops ad, “so much as breathe on me, I’m getting the call.”
The real-life SGA was asked during a TV interview after Game 3 in San Antonio about the “flopper!” chants that rained down on him at Frost Bank Center.
“It’s part of the game,” he said. “It’s nothing. I’ve been dealing with it for a long time. I don’t really hear it. I’m focused on what’s going on on the court.”
Sports
Spurs blow out Thunder, force Game 7 as Victor Wembanyama leads the way with 28-point double-double
Trump says he thinks he’ll attend NBA Finals game
President Donald Trump said during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that he believes he will attend an NBA Finals game next week, as the New York Knicks make their first Finals appearance in nearly 30 years.
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The Western Conference Finals will come down to a Game 7 after the San Antonio Spurs routed the Oklahoma City Thunder, 118-91, in Game 6 on Thursday night.
Game 7 heads back to Oklahoma City, where the winner will face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals after New York swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
With their backs against the wall, the Spurs did what was necessary on their home court and then some. And it was their phenom, Victor Wembanyama, leading the way.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs reacts during the first half against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Six of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, on May 28, 2026. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The 7-foot-4 big man led the Spurs with 28 points on 10-of-21 shooting, including four three-pointers made, while notching a double-double with 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks.
This was the performance head coach Mitch Johnson and the rest of the team needed from Wembanyama, and he was up for the challenge as the Thunder were looking to make it back-to-back NBA Finals appearances.
Instead, the Thunder’s three-point shooting woes returned in San Antonio, much like they did in Game 4 of this series. They took a whopping 40 threes, but only cashed in 10 of them, finishing 25% from beyond the arc on the night.
SPURS SNAP THUNDER’S PLAYOFF WIN STREAK BEHIND VICTORY WEMBANYAMA’S INCREDIBLE GAME 1 PERFORMANCE
As a team, the Thunder shot just 37%, and MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is among the culprits for the poor shooting night. He had just 15 points, going 6-of-18 from the field and 0-of-5 from three-point land. Lu Dort was also ice cold from three, going just 1-of-9 and 2-of-11 for the game.
Meanwhile, San Antonio was getting more than just “Wemby” contributions, especially from rookie Dylan Harper, who played a vital role in the blowout off the bench.
Dylan Harper of the San Antonio Spurs looks on during the first quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, on May 28, 2026. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Harper was quite efficient when he had the ball in his hands, going 6-of-9 from the field for 18 points, while tallying six rebounds and four assists in his pivotal 22 minutes off the pine.
And in the starting five, Stephon Castle was getting to the rim like he’s supposed to, scoring 17 points while dishing out nine assists for the Spurs. Devin Vassell also hit four of his seven three-point shots for 12 points, while Julian Champagnie poured in 10 more with six rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks on the other end of the hardwood.
The Spurs saw 12 different players contribute on the scoreboard in this contest, some of whom made their way into the game when the Thunder conceded and already started to focus on Game 7. And that swing came in the third quarter, when the Spurs outscored the Thunder, 32-13, and started to run away with this must-win game for their franchise.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama shoots against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first half of Game 6 in the Western Conference finals NBA playoffs in San Antonio on May 28, 2026. (David J. Phillip/AP)
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Now, folks, it all comes down to the ever-suspenseful Game 7, where the Thunder will hope one last home game will give them the juice to push their way into the Finals.
But the Spurs are hoping to recreate 1999 by earning a matchup with the Knicks in the NBA Finals.
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