Why the Bradley Beal Trade Makes No Sense for the Suns
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The Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards recently completed a blockbuster trade involving Washington’s best player for a while, Bradley Beal. A Beal trade was expected for a team like Washington, which appears nowhere near championship contention but also never low enough in the standings to have a significant chance at a high(er) draft pick. With Beal taking up so much cap space by making north of $50 million per year and producing enough to keep the Wizards out of the bottom of the league, the Washington Wizards found themselves in no man’s land. However, moving Beal was easier said than done since Beal had a no-trade clause attached to his contract. So this essentially gave Beal the power to approve any trade before it went through. Beal ultimately chose the Phoenix Suns as he was enticed by playing with two other superstars in Devin Booker and Kevin Durant for a chance to compete for a championship.
Although having three all-star level players and three excellent scorers on the same team may sound like an immediate championship contender, the Suns simply do not have a championship-contending roster as a whole. First of all, the Suns are currently over the salary cap between just four players: the Big Three of Booker, Beal, and Durant along with Deandre Ayton’s max deal. This leaves the Suns with few options in free agency, limiting themselves only to players willing to take veteran minimum contracts. The Suns could potentially move Ayton for role players, but interest in him may be thin as he has faced scrutiny over his attitude and not playing up to his full potential, especially on a max contract.
But aside from the potential problems of filling out the roster, the move simply does not make sense in terms of what it takes to build a championship team. Team building is not necessarily about having the best or most individually talented players on the team, it is about having the right players who can play to each other’s strengths and complement each other’s play style, while also having enough talent of course. The absolute last type of player the Suns needed on their team to pair with two of the best isolation scorers in the league Kevin Durant and Devin Booker was yet another isolation scorer in Bradley Beal. The three-star scorers just taking turns with the ball does not work. Just look at the championship teams from the past few seasons. The 2023 Nuggets, who just beat the Suns in the second round en route to a championship, beat Phoenix with a well-balanced attack by having depth to balance out the attack with their superstar Nikola Jokic and star guard Jamal Murray. Guys like Bruce Brown, Christian Braun, and Aaron Gordon contributed with excellent defense and, at times, provided a scoring spark consistently throughout the playoffs. Ironically, the Nuggets learned their lesson about a player not having enough support when they lost game 4 to the Suns in their second-round playoff series when Nikola Jokic dropped 53 points only for the Nuggets to lose the game. But ultimately, their team-first attitude was spearheaded by one of the most unselfish superstars in NBA history, Jokic. Depth, balance, and scoring in several ways by several players is a common theme among the championship-winning 2022 Warriors, 2021 Bucks, 2020 Lakers, and 2019 Raptors.
Another major concern for the Suns is the injury history of their big three. Devin Booker was limited to 53 games last season due to a left groin strain. But he’s still 26 years old and the least of their concern. However, Kevin Durant has a notorious injury history that includes a torn Achilles and various other injuries that have prevented him from playing more than 55 games since the 2018-19 season. His age is a concern as well since he will be 35 years old before the next season starts. Aging combined with many recent injuries is typically a recipe for disaster. Newly acquired Bradley Beal has also been limited to just 90 games in the last two regular seasons combined. So essentially, the Suns acquired another scorer with an injury history to accompany the aging star they just traded for last season with a deep injury history.
During game six of the Nuggets series, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant were visibly gassed, which led to the Suns’ ultimate demise and elimination in the second round. Trading for another scorer with an injury history should not have been the move when their biggest weakness was their bench or lack thereof. The Suns and their top-heavy roster will likely cause their big three to play heavy minutes throughout the season and playoffs, which only creates greater injury concern.
All in all, even though their roster construction is not consistent with that of recent NBA championship-winning teams, the Suns are not to be counted out. Their offense will be explosive and that combination of stars can win any game on any given night. But with the grueling 82-game season along with the playoffs, the championship or bust situation Mat Ishbia and the Suns’ front office have put themselves in, the more likely outcome as of right now seems to be bust. Only time will tell, though.
