A trade pitch aimed at the Boston Celtics proposes a blockbuster deal. In the trade idea constructed using the FanSpo trade machine, the Celtics land Devin Booker by shipping Paul George out to Phoenix, according to the FanSpo user’s carefully assembled trade pitch — a deal worthy of Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens himself.
George’s post-trade restriction on being packaged with a teammate’s salary expired Sept. 6, clearing a technical path for exactly this kind of deal.
Devin Armani Booker was born Oct. 30, 1996, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and spent one season at Kentucky before Phoenix drafted him 13th overall in 2015. He’s a five-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA pick who has averaged 24.6 points for his career and once scored 70 in a single game.
Booker’s contract extension, signed in July 2025, runs through 2029-30 and pays him $57 million this season, according to salary breakdowns compiled by HoopsHype. He has spent his entire NBA career in Phoenix with the Suns.
Paul Clifton Anthony George, born May 2, 1990, in Palmdale, California, arrived in the league as Indiana’s 10th overall pick in 2010 after two years at Fresno State. He’s a nine-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA selection who has averaged 20.5 points across 16 seasons, though his last year in Philadelphia produced just 17.3 points over 37 games as durability concerns have appeared as he moves through his 30s.
Boston acquired him in July for Jaylen Brown and future draft capital, according to the Celtics’ trade announcement, with a 2026-27 cap hit of $54 million.
How Boston and Phoenix Would Change on the Floor
Booker at 29 still functions as a high-usage shot creator who has topped 25 points a game for seven straight seasons. Paired with Celtics four-time All-NBA first-teamer Jayson Tatum, who is working his way back from a torn Achilles, he’d give Boston two offensive engines. The FanSpo simulator projects a five-win swing in Boston’s favor, with sizable offensive gains offset by a defensive dip, since Booker has never been the stopper George continues to be. Boston’s supporting cast around that new pairing would include Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Mike Conley.
For Phoenix, Booker remains the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, and ownership has said publicly he isn’t going anywhere, according to local reports in Phoenix. Swapping him for a 36-year-old George would dent a roster that already includes Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and Miles Bridges, coming off a 45-37 season that ended in a first-round exit.
What Each Side Gains Financially
Phoenix comes out ahead on the accounting ledger. Trading Booker’s four remaining years, which climb past $70 million annually, for two years of George drops the Suns’ cap impact by $2.9 million and pushes them toward first-apron status rather than deeper tax trouble.
Boston takes on the opposite side of that ledger, with a longer, pricier commitment while already hard-capped at the first apron, which limits its ability to add via exception.
The FanSpo trade pitch reads as a win-now talent swap that clearly favors Boston competitively, while Phoenix would be walking away from the extension it just signed at the cost of its face-of-the-franchise player.
Celtics Trade Pitch Lands Devin Booker From Suns For Paul George