The Phoenix Suns finally bought out Bradley Beal earlier this week, and he had a cryptic social media post in the aftermath of the news being made official. One that former teammate Kevin Durant was only too happy to also get involved in, which just made the whole thing feel even more weird.
Beal gave back over $13 million in order to exit Phoenix, but quickly recouped almost all of it by signing with the L.A. Clippers on a reported two year, $11 million contract. The kind of numbers that reflect Beal's spot in the league today, and ironically would have been a great number to have him on with the Suns.
Beal still believes he's a top draw in the NBA.
But what Clippers fans are quickly going to realize next season - assuming Beal can stay on the court - is that the 32-year-old still believes he can be a first option for a playoff team. The Clippers were one of the surprise packages of last season, and James Harden deserves a ton of credit for turning in the kind of season most thought was now beyond him.
There is no chance he is going to turn over many of the ball-handling and scoring duties to Beal, and he shouldn't. Then there is Kawhi Leonard, who looked amazing when he finally got a healthy run of games under his belt as well. Whether Beal starts next to these two or games off the bench, that team is going to have the same problems that the Suns did.
Namely that Beal would rather have the ball in his hands as often as possible, and leave the high-level defending to somebody else. Good teams can only carry so many people defensively, and Harden is already occupying that spot. Much like in Phoenix, when Durant and Booker both didn't do enough on that end each night to have the luxury of Beal chipping in from time-to-time as well.
The LA Clippers have officially signed Bradley Beal.
— Farbod Esnaashari (@Farbod_E) July 18, 2025
Ty Lue: "Players of this caliber are very rare, and they're hard to come by." pic.twitter.com/jSAVrvj1P1
Although the Clippers rightly view this as a massive win right now - there is no doubt Beal can take some of the offensive load off Harden during the regular season - the reality of that fit is going to be different when the time comes. Beal struggled to be a third option for the Suns, it was a role he never truly looked comfortable in.
That's not going to change now that he's had a change of scenery, if anything he will want to make up for lost time here. If you're L.A. you do this deal every day, but the Suns won't miss trying to fit him in next to Booker, even with Durant no longer in the picture. If he can stay healthy, look for Beal to try and return to the glory days of his Washington Wizards run when it all revolved around him.