Suns’ Booker signs 5-year, $158 million deal

FILE – In this Jan. 5, 2018, file photo, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) gestures during the second half of the team’s NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio. Booker, the high-scoring guard at the heart of Phoenix’s rebuilding plans, has signed a five-year, $158 million maximum contract with the Suns. Booker, 21, tweeted a photo of himself smiling as he signed the deal Saturday night, July 7, moments before the Suns announced the deal. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

PHOENIX — Devin Booker, the high-scoring guard at the heart of Phoenix’s rebuilding plans, has signed a five-year, $158 million maximum contract with the Suns.

Booker, 21, tweeted a photo of himself smiling as he signed the deal Saturday night, moments before the Suns announced the deal, which takes effect in the 2019-20 season and makes him the highest-paid player in the franchise’s history.

The 13th overall pick in the 2015 draft out of Kentucky, Booker has averaged 19.8 points per game in his three NBA seasons. He averaged 24.9 points last season, shooting 38 percent from 3-point range. He won the NBA 3-point contest at All-Star weekend in February.

Booker set a franchise record by scoring 70 points in a game at Boston on March 24, 2017, just the sixth player in NBA history to score that many.

He wrote he is “humbled and honored” to sign the deal.

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