Bradley Beal wanted the Suns (and now Phoenix is stuck with him)

If you allow yourself to cast your mind back to the summer 2021, the future of the Phoenix Suns looked incredibly bright. So too did the present, they had just been beaten in the NBA Finals by the Milwaukee Bucks - and while that certainly strung - this was a team that The Valley had absolutely bought into.

Then came a change of ownership with Mat Ishbia taking the helm, and the opportunity to trade for Kevin Durant. Hindsight is 20/20, but you're lying of you'd say today that you wouldn't have done that deal. Losing Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges - plus all those draft picks - sure did hurt, but the possibility of Durant and Devin Booker together was so enticing.

Then it became a question of moving on from one of Deandre Ayton or Chris Paul to improve. In the end both departed Phoenix, with the Suns taking on a barely playable big man in Jusuf Nurkic, plus the excellent Grayson Allen, in exchange for Ayton. A trade that started off well, but has gotten worse as time has gone on.

Trading Paul for Bradley Beal however, was the breaking point.

Again it is easier with the benefit of knowing what we do now to see that this was the wrong corner to back themselves into. Paul was declining and couldn't stay healthy when it really mattered, plus he too was making a lot of money. So while swapping Paul for Beal felt like turning water into wine from a talent perspective, the grim reality of what they've done is now more apparent than ever.

With Jimmy Butler wanting out of the Miami Heat - and the Phoenix Suns seemingly his preferred destination - this should be a straightforward move for both parties. Only the Suns gave away essentially all of their draft picks, and are now operating in the second apron which makes potential deals that much harder.

On top of all of that tough, is the pesky no-trade clause that Beal gladly waived to end his Washington Wizards experience and head to Phoenix. The Suns appeared to take action a couple of games back, electing to bring Beal off the bench. That looked like a masterstroke in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers, and brought with it new problems in a dreadful loss to the Charlotte Hornets the next night.

The Suns are currently stuck with Beal for as long as he says, and in bringing him off the bench they might be creating another massive problem we will only see the true impact of in years to come. The league is a tight-knit circle, and organizations that look after their players earn a good reputation with stars players and - just as crucially - their agents.

If the Suns are going to mess Beal around to try and get him to leave, that is not a good look for the future. It is easy to talk yourself into this being the best course of action when you have Booker and Durant, but they're not going to be in The Valley forever. There could come a time when the next available free agent hears just how the Suns tried to get Beal to leave, and it makes them think twice.

Even more worrying is if Booker himself - or more likely Durant - realize that they too could one day be in that position. This is looking increasingly like a lose-lose for Durant, and he may decide this summer that he needs to go elsewhere. His legacy for jumping ship yet again would take another hit - much to the delight of many - but the alternative isn't much better.

Either play on a team featuring Beal that isn't good enough to win and watch the vibes go all the way down the toilet. Or else somehow get Butler in town, only to realize that a 35-year-old who has worn out his welcome with other franchises isn't the fix all it appears to be. A new center would be a much better solution, plus some actual depth beyond their first couple of guys off the bench.

All of this because the Suns traded for a former All-Star who desperately wanted to join, and now has zero interest in leaving. It will go down as the biggest misstep of this era of Suns' basketball, and we may not even have reached the bottom of this sorry saga yet. As long as Beal is clutching the no-trade clause, the future in Phoenix remains bleak.