Devin Booker Gives Emphasis On Loyalty In Response To Draymond Green

Devin Booker gave a piece of his mind following the bold statement from Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who suggested that he should leave the Phoenix Suns and take his exploits somewhere that could translate his talents to winning. In response, the All-star guard stressed the importance of commitment to the city and its fans, who he said deserve to be rewarded for the loyalty they continue to give to the franchise in the first place.

“I feel like that’s important for this organization, for the fans that have stuck by us for this long and still do so,” Booker said of Green’s comments, via Nick Friedell of ESPN. “Since I’ve been in Phoenix, we haven’t had the winning success that we had, but the support’s been there. And this is what we owe to the fans, we owe to the organization. It’s been a long time for us and I think this bubble opportunity was big for us, and we’re taking advantage of it.”

Green’s statement came as Booker and the Suns continue to wreak havoc inside the Orlando bubble. After Saturday’s win against the Miami, Phoenix made it five in a row since the restart and is the only remaining undefeated team at Disney World.

"It's not good for him. It's not good for his career," Green said as he appeared on TNT’s Inside The NBA. “They got to get Book out of Phoenix. I need my man to go somewhere where he can play great basketball all the time and win because he's that type of player."

The statement then resulted in the NBA slapping a fine worth $50,000 to the former All-Star for tampering.

Green, who is not a stranger to being summoned by the league, perhaps knew the sanction was coming. During the said episode on Friday, the three-time champion did not even deny if he was tampering when asked by Ernie Johnson. Instead, he gave a cryptic “maybe” as a response to the question.

An ESPN report then clarified how the NBA came up with the penalty, as well as the amount.

“The league tightened its rules before this season when it comes to matters such as tampering, salary-cap circumvention, and free-agency timing -- with one emphasis being the rule prohibiting player-to-player tampering. The fine amount is the maximum the NBA can give before a player can file a grievance,” the report read.

The Suns seek to extend their surge as they continue the bid to punch a ticket to the Playoffs. They are currently at 10^th place in the West behind the Portland Trail Blazers and the eight placed Memphis Grizzlies, who are ahead of them by just two games.