We have now entered the second year of the Bradley Beal on the Phoenix Suns era, and it has been... alright? It certainly didn't start well as a result of various injury setbacks - including a back issue that delayed his debut - and it ended with Beal only playing 53 regular season games for the franchise.
But towards the end of last season he was one of the Suns' best players - and as he said himself at media day recently - he doesn't feel like we've gotten a chance to see the Beal we all know yet. The introduction of an actual point guard in Tyus Jones helping to ensure that Beal gets to play in a way he is more familiar in Phoenix this time out.
But it could have been so, so different for both Beal and the Suns.
In an incredibly open and honest conversation on the Run Your Race podcast - which you can listen to in full here - Beal revealed that there were two teams he felt he was likely to end up on once he wanted out of the Washington Wizards. Neither were the Suns, who at that point were not in the picture at all.
The first was the Miami Heat - something that had been rumored for some time prior to Beal landing in The Valley - with the now 31-year-old going on to say that "Miami didn't wanna do it, for whatever reason I don't know why", although in hindsight it seems obvious why they didn't ultimately get it done.
Would the Wizards have beaten LeBron and the Cavs if they met in the playoffs in 2017? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/pn8XQKQRZ8
— Tidal League (@TidalLeague) October 8, 2024
That organization is not a Bradley Beal away from winning the Eastern Conference, with the future of Jimmy Butler also unclear with the Heat right now. Mortgaging your future on two injury-prone stars the wrong side of 30 is not smart business - and if there's one area the Heat have succeeded to get by in recent years - it is in making the right decisions at crucial moments.
Then Beal dropped the bombshell, he was led to believe it was the Milwaukee Bucks where he was going to land. The kicker? Khris Middleton was going to go in the other direction, with his player-option and likely unwillingness to sign on for a long-term deal with the Wizards viewed by Beal as the main sticking point as to why it didn't get done.
"The loyalty part in that, trading somebody who won y'all a championship that previous year (Middleton), was a key piece to y'all winning a championship, that didn't sit right with me." The Bucks of course would go on to ditch Jrue Holiday instead - bringing in Damian Lillard in the process - but they're further back from the top of the East now than before they made that move.
It is fascinating to think what that could have meant for the Suns, who would have seriously struggled to find another suitor to take on Chris Paul's contract. It was Washington who agreed to do that, only to then let him go and play for the Golden State Warriors. There really is no other organization in the league who would have done this, and gifted the Suns a third star in the process.
Then again, the jury is still out on if the Suns made this move at the right time. There's no doubt Paul - about to embark on a season with the San Antonio Spurs - is miles past his best, but it's not like Beal has been the final piece of the puzzle either. In fact, the franchise are yet to even win a playoff game since he came to town, never mind a series. A truly great "what if" moment in Phoenix sport history.