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How the Suns Plan to Handle Bradley Beal After Kevin Durant Trade

Beal may also be headed elsewhere after the Durant trade.

Tim Capurso

Durant is headed to Houston. Beal may also be leaving town.
Durant is headed to Houston. Beal may also be leaving town. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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After weeks of speculation and rumors, the Phoenix Suns traded two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets on Sunday, in exchange for two players and six NBA draft picks, including Houston's No. 10 selection in the 2025 draft. And Durant may not be the only high-profile Suns player headed out of town after the blockbuster deal.

The Suns are expected to attempt to part ways with three-time All-Star guard Bradley Beal, according to The Athletic. Given Phoenix's surplus of guards—four-time All-Star Devin Booker, Beal, Grayson Allen and now the newly-acquired Green—dealing one of them certainly makes sense. And Beal, whose tenure in Phoenix thus far has been marred by injuries, would seem to be the perfect candidate.

Complicating matters is Beal's hefty contract, on which he is owed just under $111 million in the next two seasons, and his no-trade clause, which was a significant road block when Beal's name surfaced in rumors ahead of the NBA trade deadline back in February.

But if the Suns again struggle to find a trade partner, a buyout could also be an option, as 98.7 FM's John Gambadoro said during an episode of The Kevin O'Connor Show.

"They will either trade him or they will buy him out," Gambadoro said. "I went out on a limb like three months ago and said there's a 0% [chance] Bradley Beal is going to be back. I'm going to stick with that. I don't think there's any scenario in whcih Bradley Beal comes back and plays for the Suns."

Beal, who will turn 32 on June 28, has averaged 21.5 points, 4.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game while shooting 37.6 percent from beyond the arc in his 13-year NBA career.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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