Analyst: Suns Regret Trading for Bradley Beal
Do the Phoenix Suns really regret the move?
PHOENIX -- The dust has settled on the 2023-24 NBA regular season, and the Phoenix Suns managed to avoid play-in tournament festivities on the final day with a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, who they'll face on Saturday for Game 1 of the first round of postseason action.
Between now and then gives ample time to reflect on the moves the Suns did (or didn't) make, though Phoenix clearly targeted their goals to a deep postseason run, and all judgement should be reserved until the Suns' campaign is officially over.
Bleacher Report recently went through and gave every team's biggest regret for the past season, and author Grant Hughes says the Suns regret trading for Bradley Beal:
"Technically, the Phoenix Suns acquired Bradley Beal about a week before the 2023-24 league year started. We're fudging the details to include that trade here because it'd feel so ridiculous to choose anything over that future-crippling, flexibility-sapping, mostly unsuccessful blockbuster move," Hughes wrote.
"Beal appeared in six of Phoenix's first 30 games, allowing skeptics of the trade to immediately draw an X on the "injury risk" square of their bingo cards. Even when healthy, his skill set was duplicative to those of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
"Anyone who thought adding a third score-first player (at the cost of roster depth and balance) to a team that already had two elite bucket-getters did a lot of self-satisfied nodding as Phoenix posted the NBA's worst fourth-quarter plus/minus while playing some truly uninspiring "your turn, my turn" offense.
"Phoenix is bereft of draft capital after giving up four first-round swaps and six second-rounders to get Beal, and it's still on the hook for the remaining three years and $161 million on his contract after this season. The second apron and all its roster-building hindrances looms this summer. Durant will turn 36 early next season. Booker's eye may start to wander.
"If the Suns spend the rest of the decade circling the drain, it'll be because of the deal they swung to add an overpriced third option to a team that needed something different."
There's certainly plenty of good points Hughes makes to this case. Beal struggled with health while having a massive price tag for a third option behind Booker/Durant.
To counter, the Suns absolutely needed a third-scorer behind Booker and Durant (we need to remember last year's playoff run), and Beal's ability to handle point guard duties while also being the only one of the big three to consistently attack the hoop has opened things up offensively for others.
Again, the postseason was always the goal for Phoenix, so TBD on all reservations for Beal and other acquisitions this past season - though it's fair to argue for either side of the coin as Saturday awaits.
