The Suns are facing pressure from all fronts to push their timeline forward, even through a slow start to the season.
This is within the context of attempting to build a winner around Devin Booker, that is.
The Suns fell to just 1-5 on the season after a 132-119 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night, the first half of a back-to-back.
Is this to say that Phoenix can't figure things out in the near future? Absolutely not, but confidence isn't uniformly lofty at the moment.
An immediate mechanism of this remains the prospects of an eventual trade to end the Booker era in Phoenix. Is this actually an idea that could be imminent?
To the credit of the Suns' front office, they have found high-impact players at economical rates over the last two seasons.
The avenues to genuinely climb into contention in the Western Conference remain narrow, however.
Howard Beck of The Ringer ultimately points out the truth of the situation when pondering if the partnership is truly permanent.
"Booker is 30, still firmly in his prime. How much more of this can he take? How much longer can Phoenix afford to keep him (and his massive contract) given the results? The Suns aren’t getting anywhere with him, but they could reset and restock their draft capital by trading him."
There's little doubt that these are reasonable stances to take. There was even a breaking point for Giannis Antetokounmpo with the Milwaukee Bucks after all.
Will there ever be a point where Booker foregoes his commitment and love of the city to seek an opportunity to win an elusive NBA title? There's no indication of this yet, but is the door really ever shut in these scenarios?
The Suns can decide to move on from Booker in an effort to replenish the asset chest was lost over the years.
Ultimately, the process of doing this isn't that simple. Multiple roadblocks exist, including finding a contender that has the ability to execute a trade for Booker without compromising the structure of the team or ballooning into the second apron.
In extension of this, the first-round draft picks Phoenix would receive back are very likely to be in the back-half, which lowers the value on average.
Staying in Phoenix might be the best option from Booker's perspective as well. Damian Lillard of the Blazers is a prime example of a player that left their longtime franchise just to come back.
That's a question that both the Suns and Booker will need to answer as trade chatter continues to permeate NBA circles.
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