Who will be the next NBA star to try and force a trade?

2. Devin Booker

The Suns haven’t exactly had the greatest last 12 months.

After bypassing eventual Rookie of the Year winner Luka Doncic to draft Deandre Ayton, Phoenix ended up with the third-worst record in the league but only the No. 6 pick to show for it. After trading down to No. 11, they drafted Cam Johnson — a player who some scouts gave barely a first round grade to — perhaps in part because Suns VP Jeff Bower had a preexisting relationship with Johnson from a recruiting visit.

Free agency brought some more intrigue, as the team brought in the steady hand of Ricky Rubio, but did so at the cost of pursuing 23-year-old All-Star D’Angelo Russell, apparently due to concerns about his influence on Devin Booker.

Booker and Russell, notably, are good friends. If the Suns were trying to cement the relationship with their cornerstone guard, this maybe wasn’t the best approach.

To top things off, they unloaded former No. 4 overall pick Josh Jackson in a salary dump, losing promising second-year guard De’Anthony Melton and two second-round picks in the process.

Booker is now the only first rounder remaining from the five-year period between 2013 and 2017, a stretch which included three top-five selections. Like Towns, he is about to begin his five-year max contract extension.

We’ll see if it ends up mattering. If there were ever a player in the league that had a right to put his foot to the necks of the powers that be, it’s Booker.