Most have decided the Phoenix Suns are essentially stuck with Bradley Beal, because of his no-trade clause. That is to some extent true. But not entirely.
Phoenix is only stuck with Beal until it can find a team that both wants him, and that he wants to join. This isn't an easy thing to do. If it were, Beal would be elsewhere by now. But the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes may unlock a potential landing spot that checks both boxes.
That team? The Milwaukee Bucks themselves.
Can the Suns capitalize on the Bucks' desperation?
ESPN's Shams Charania reports that "for the first time in his career, Antetokounmpo is open-minded about exploring whether his best long-term fit" involves playing somewhere other than Milaukee. This isn't quite an outright trade demand, but it comes pretty close.
Still, the Bucks are unlikely to give up their two-time MVP without a fight. They do not control their own first-round pick until 2031, and have no cornerstone prospects on the roster. Reloading their asset stores by moving Antetokounmpo may provide a bridge to the future, but keeping him is the only way to remain relevant in both the immediate and longer terms.
Straddling that line is impossible following Damian Lillard's devastating Achilles injury. There's no guarantee he plays in 2025-26. If he does, it won't be until at least the second half of the season. Who knows what he'll look like then, at the age of 35.
Enter Bradley Beal and the Suns.
Beal is not battling anywhere near the same health issues, and provides the type of on-ball scoring punch the Bucks need if they attempt to navigate life without Lillard. Other teams find the two years and $110.8 million left on his deal prohibitive. Milwaukee may no longer be one of them.
Lillard is owed slightly more than Beal, with $112.6 million coming to him the next two seasons. He doesn't have a no-trade clause, and is the better player. But that carries only so much weight when he might not play again until 2026-27, after his 36th birthday.
Attaching a 2031 (or 2032) first-round pick to Dame, and bringing back Beal isn't ideal for the Bucks in a vacuum. This isn't happening in a vacuum, though. Their options are limited if they want to improve the roster around Giannis. They won't have real cap space to spend even if they let Brook Lopez walk in free agency, and none of their players, aside from Giannis himself, have boatloads of standalone trade value.
Much like Beal was the best Phoenix could do with its remaining assets in 2023, Milwaukee finds itself in a similar boat entering the 2025 offseason.
Here's why the Suns should explore this trade scenario
At first glance, this may not seem like a great idea for the Suns. Beal is at least healthy enough to play. Dame, again, may not take the court again before 2026-27.
You know what? That's fine. Moving Beal out of the rotation could wind up being addition by subtraction. Even if it's not, moving him for any value beats potentially buying him out, and having a bunch of dead money on the cap sheet.
More importantly, the acquisition of a first-round pick from Milwaukee opens up an entirely new scenario.
What if the Suns take that (theoretical) Bucks first-rounder in 2031 or 2032, and offer it to the Washington Wizards, in exchange for control over their own draft picks in 2026? Doing this lets Phoenix go through a transitioning gap year, before re-evaluating its future next summer around Devin Booker, a potentially really good lottery pick, a healthier Lillard on an expiring, and whatever fruit they reap from the inevitable Kevin Durant trade.
Relative to where the Suns are at now, this plan seems more than palatable. It requires patience, and selling the extension-eligible Booker on a longer-term window, but that's exactly what Phoenix is up against now anyway. At least this way, the Suns have a ready-made-to-win core already intact by the summer of 2026. Failing that, they at least have more tantalizing trade packages to build around Lillard's expiring deal, a lottery prospect, and those same spoils from the KD trade.
Now, this is all contingent upon the Bucks being desperate enough to keep Giannis, and Beal waiving his no-trade clause to join him. That's not really a big leap. We're talking about Giannis freaking Antetokounmpo, after all. If he's not the type of player you're desperate to retain—or in Beal's case, play alongside—who the heck is?
And if it turns out the Bucks are game, then, well, the Suns shouldn't need to think twice. This is a hypothetical road worth traveling down.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.