The Phoenix Suns are being extremely aggressive in trying to move Bradley Beal to the point that it almost sounds like desperation.
In an appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up!” Wednesday, Brian Windhorst revealed just how hard the Suns have tried to find a trade partner to take Beal off their hands. Windhorst said the Suns have “tried almost every team in the league” to find a taker for Beal, but their efforts have not been successful.
“The Suns have been trying for weeks to turn Bradley Beal into Jimmy Butler. To pair him with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. That is what the Suns have wanted, that is what Jimmy Butler has wanted,” Windhorst said, via Adam Wells of Bleacher Report. “That is not what Brad Beal wants, and he has no trade clause, and they have reached a loggerheads. They have tried almost every team in the league, from what I can understand. They went out and traded their one first round pick into three to try to pay off three different teams to do deals. I can’t tell you how many things I’ve been through on calls listening to stuff, how they’ve tried.”
Beal’s trade value has tanked since the Suns made a trade involving four first-round pick swaps to land him in the summer of 2023. He has another year left on his contract, plus a $57.1 million player option. Complicating things further is that no-trade clause, which his agent has maintained he will not waive under any circumstances.
Even worse for the Suns is the fact that Beal just has not played all that well this season. Injuries have limited him to 36 games, and he is averaging 17.1 points per game, a modest number by his standards. A large part of that is down to him essentially being the third option on a Suns team with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant running the show.
The Suns’ inability to move Beal is one factor that could drive the team to make an even bigger move ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.
