The Bradley Beal situation is already ugly, and it’s only going to get worse from here on out. The Phoenix Suns are on a slide, and Jimmy Butler rumors loom over in South Beach, but nothing can be done because of Beal and his massive contract. It’s an unavoidable problem that the Suns have put themselves in.
When Beal got a no-trade clause from the Washington Wizards, it should have been a giant red flag signaling to other teams, “Don’t trade for me!!” But the Suns ignored the warning signs. They chose to put three isolation scorers on the same team and hoped talent would win out in the end.
And now, the current situation with Beal has proved that Matt Ishbia completely ruined the Suns.
The ugly Bradley Beal situation proves that Matt Ishbia's reckless spending ruined the Suns
As soon as Ishbia came on board in Phoenix, he made a commitment to spending. A few months later, they traded for Kevin Durant, and the following summer, they made a move for Beal.
At first glance, this was great. Ishbia was the type of guy who was willing to spend to make the team better. That’s the type of owner that every organization wants, right?
Wrong.
Ishbia was so eager to flash his cash in hopes of improvement that he (and James Jones) ignored every other important aspect of building a basketball team. And now, they are paying the price for it.
Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant are all amazing players, but even on paper, the fit was never going to be ideal. All three are isolation-heavy scorers who are good at other things. But instead of keeping Chris Paul around or using his salary to fill out a competent roster around Booker and Durant, Ishbia wanted to keep making giant splashes.
Now, even though Ishbia wants to go through the same process again and try to land another superstar in Butler, the Suns can’t. Beal has a no-trade clause and controls his own future.
“If so, I need to be addressed because I hold the cards,” Beal said via Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. “So, until I’m addressed and somebody says something differently, then I’ll be a Sun.”
Phoenix has already moved Beal to the bench out of desperation amidst a 2-8 slide in their last 10 games. They are in 12th place in the Western Conference and 3.5 games out of a guaranteed playoff spot.
And because they are a second-apron team, a position that Ishbia’s spending put them in, they cannot aggregate salaries in trades, they have to send out more money than they take in, and their other moves are extremely restricted.
Unless they trade Beal or find a suitor willing to take on Jusuf Nurkic’s brutal contract, the Suns are stuck in purgatory.
Ishbia’s spending was supposed to be a savior in Phoenix. Instead, it’s ruined the Suns’ present (and perhaps their future).