Phoenix Suns Emerge As Finalist In ‘Serious’ Talks For Bradley Beal Trade: Report

Count the Phoenix Suns as the latest team in the Bradley Beal sweepstakes.

According to a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Suns — along with the Miami Heat — are emerging as one of the two finalists in “serious” talks with the Washington Wizards for All-Star guard Bradley Beal.

“Developing: Washington is in serious talks with two finalists – Miami and Phoenix – on a Bradley Beal trade, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium,” writes Charania. “The Suns have emerged as a serious threat for Beal, who holds a no-trade clause.”

The Heat — along with the Milwaukee Bucks — had previously been mentioned as the teams interested in Beal. Now the Suns — who already feature a superstar duo in Kevin Durant and Devin Booker — are emerging as frontrunners to land Beal to form a new Big Three trio.

It’s worth noting that Beal is the only player in the NBA with a full no-trade clause. He’s owed $208 million over the next four seasons after signing a new deal last year.

It’s unclear what the Suns would give up in a potential trade for Beal, but it’s obvious that they would move on from Chris Paul in order to clear up salary cap space for the incoming Beal.

Entering the 2023-24 season, Beal is due to earn $46.7 million as the sixth-highest paid player in the NBA. Meanwhile, Durant is due to earn a similar salary at $47.6 million with Devin Booker at $36 million. The Suns would be committing $130.3 million to those three players alone.

A prior report on Paul indicated the Suns would be moving on from Paul, likely waiving or trading him. He has a $30.8 million non-guaranteed salary with only $15.8 million of that guaranteed for the 2023-24 season. However, the full salary becomes guaranteed if he’s on the roster by June 28.

“The Suns and Paul are exploring multiple options, league sources tell The Athletic, including a trade, waiving and stretching his contract over multiple years, or waiving and potentially re-resigning him in free agency,” Charania reported on June 7.

That makes pulling off a trade for Beal by that date even more imperative for the Suns as including Paul could make the salary cap logistics make sense. One would also assume some draft capital would be flipped in a potential trade with the Wizards, as they look to rebuild. It’s worth noting that the 2023 NBA Draft is due to take place next Thursday on June 22.

Another potential piece other than Paul is young big man DeAndre Ayton, who is owed $102 million over the next three years. It’s all a matter of whether or not the Wizards prioritize an expiring salary in Paul or a young building block in Ayton, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors mentions.

Adams also suggests Landry Shamet and Cameron Payne as other potential pieces in a Suns/Wizards trade for Beal.

“Landry Shamet ($10.3MM) and Cameron Payne ($6.5MM) are other movable Suns players for matching purposes, though Phoenix doesn’t have much to offer in the way of future draft picks after sending four first-rounders to Brooklyn for Durant in February,” writes Adams. “The Suns would only be able to sweeten an offer with second-round picks or with a first-round swap in 2024 and/or 2026.”

The Suns — with their current big three of Durant, Booker and Paul — came up short of their objective of winning a championship, bowing out to the Denver Nuggets during the semifinals in six games. However, it’s worth noting that Paul missed the last four games of the series due to injury.

During the regular season, the Suns went undefeated with their star lineup. However, their lack of depth following the trade acquisition of Durant became clear in the playoffs as they lost three of their first seven games.

Phoenix is hoping that by adding a former 30-point-per-game scorer in Beal, it’ll lift them to a title after coming up short of the Western Conference Finals over the past two seasons.