In the aftermath of the Phoenix Suns’ nearly monumental trade deadline, some clarity has surfaced on the trade market for Bradley Beal.
President of basketball operations and general manager James Jones told reporters on Friday he did not have any discussions with Beal about his no-trade clause.
“That’s one thing I can say for sure, because that’s been a big topic of discussion,” Jones said.
The Suns attempted to acquire Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat to pair with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, but doing so would have required sending out Beal. As a second apron team, the Suns cannot combine multiple players’ salaries in trades for a more expensive player.
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That gave them problems since Beal would have had to waive his no-trade clause and another team would have to be willing to take on his gaudy contract. He comes with a $53.7 million cap hit next year followed by a $57.1 million player option in 2026-27.
The Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards were the only teams that considered absorbing Beal’s contract if he’d waive his no-trade clause, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne. Beal spent the first 11 seasons of his career in Washington.
The Heat were not interested in adding Beal in a Butler trade.
Beal had indicated that even if he’d waive his no-trade clause to facilitate a move now, he would retain it in his new home. That was a nonstarter for Miami, and for most of the NBA.
Ultimately, the Suns pivoted to looking at trading Durant after the Golden State Warriors aggressively pursued him, and Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reported there was a deal in the works that would have shipped Durant to Golden State and Butler to Phoenix. Durant did not want to go, Golden State did not want a disgruntled star and any deal was quashed.
Jones did not comment on such a deal, saying, “What we do internally, we keep internally and it always gets noisy when you’re not winning.”
Reporting after the deadline suggests there is some frustration from Durant in unexpectedly being discussed in trades.
“I would be frustrated too if we weren’t winning and a lot of the blame, a lot of the noise was around me,” Jones said. “I know Kevin understands that, he’s human, he’s just like everyone else, but he’s a hooper and he’s a pro, and he’s been above it his entire career. So he knows where we stand. He’s pivotal for us. He’s one of our leaders.”
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