New Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant developments are adding salt to the Suns' wound

After the departure of both Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant from the Suns this offseason, the pair have both agreed to cheaper contracts in the immediate future with their new teams. Beal signed to the L.A. Clippers for two years and just $11 million after being stretched-and-waived by the Suns, who will continue to pay out $ 96.9 million from his previous contract.

Durant has now agreed to a two-year/$90 million contract extension with the Rockets, which will be much cheaper relative to team salary cap than what he made in Phoenix.

Beal and Durant's contracts made life difficult for the Suns front office.

Neither Beal or Durant are bad NBA players by any means. But their gargantuan contracts last season, when both made over $50 million, made it impossible to add quality pieces around them and Devin Booker.

Beal in particular did not live up to his contract, or even come close. With no way out, the Suns chose to pay him $19 million per season for the next five years to not play for them.

But he is now a bargain for the Clippers on a minimum contract. In his only preseason outing, Beal proved effective for the Clippers and logged 12 points on an extremely efficient 6-of-9 from the field in just 15 minutes. He was very active moving off the ball to get open looks and also made a defensive impact (including one steal and one block in those limited minutes) - sure to invoke the envy of Suns fans.

Once Durant's contract extension kicks in, he will also be on a deal that is more of a bargain and arguably represents his true value at this point in his career. Durant is still one of the league's best when he is playing and could be worth the absolute max. However, he's missed a lot of time in the last few seasons and his new contract extension will be a better representation of his value with injuries taken into account.

During his Suns seasons, Durant took up an average of 35% of the salary cap, but is projected to be at just 26% for the Rockets on his extension. This financial sacrifice from him will also allow the Rockets to lock down key young players who can help the team compete for a championship.

If the Suns had received similar sacrifices from Durant and Beal, they may have been able to build a better supporting cast and avoid one of the most disastrous seasons in franchise history. Managing cap sheets is more important than ever before with the current CBA, and small sacrifices from players can go a big way in building a team.

Sadly, the Suns were not able to reap the benefits of Durant and Beal on bargain deals. They've already doubled down on their last remaining expensive superstar by giving Booker a 2-year/$145 million extension. But hopefully they are able to learn from these mistakes and get players on slightly cheaper deals in the future.