Devin Booker Congratulated P.J. Tucker On Not Getting Traded...30 Seconds Before P.J. Tucker Found Out He Got Traded

The toughest part for PJ Tucker about being traded: leaving his home and teammates behind. Some players thought he wasn't leaving. #12Sports pic.twitter.com/QpFMTZDl3u

— Cameron Cox (@CamCox12) February 23, 2017

At 1:00 MST, Devin Booker said to P.J. "I told you, you weren't going anywhere." P.J. found out he was traded about 30 seconds after.

— Gavin Schall (@GavinSchall) February 23, 2017

There's two ways you could view this situation. On one hand, awwwwwwwwwkward. Giving a guy the old reassuring slap on the ass and reinforcing his faith that he'll remain with the organization that gave him his second chance mere seconds before he's slipped an international ticket to Toronto? Ironically enough, that's the type of circumstance that would make anyone "wanna get away" on the next Southwest flight. 

On the other hand, a bright eyed, bushy tailed kid just got a first hand look at how much of a business the NBA can be, and he didn't even need to pack his bags and change cities to do so. It was super naive of Devin Booker to think there couldn't possibly be an aftershock once the clock struck deadline, but you can rest assured that he won't be making that mistake in the future with how unforgettably dumb he felt in that moment. Going from being the voice of irrational confidence for a teammate to being completely lost for words with one bad breaking of news? That's the type of uncomfortableness that sticks with a player for his entire career, and it's the type of uncomfortableness that even the most secure of veterans feel as the trade deadline approaches. Devin Booker will now be prepared for anything come late February, and he only had to be mildly responsible for making the sinking of someone else's heart undergo a slightly steeper drop to cash that reality check. He probably still feels pretty shitty for getting P.J. Tucker's hopes up, but having to move abruptly to an unfamiliar country is quite the "better him than me" situation - even if Toronto is professionally preferable to Phoenix.