No matter what way the Phoenix Suns approach the 2024-25 season, there is no doubt Bradley Beal is one of their x-factors. The 31-year-old the fifth highest paid player in the league next season at over $50 million, despite only appearing in 53 regular season games in his first year in The Valley.
To be fair to the three-time All-Star - when he got a run of games under him after getting back to full strength - he was one of the franchise's best players down the stretch of the season. But the question now will be whether or not he continues with the starting group (as most expect), or if he comes off the bench to allow Tyus Jones to start (he has a better fit with the starters).
If you're Kevin Garnett, both of these goals are way wide of the mark for Beal.
Since calling it a career, Garnett's takes have ranged from the grounded and level-headed, to the more out there. You can certainly put his thoughts on Beal into the latter category, as he recently told Paul Pierce on the "All The Smoke" podcast that "Beal, he can be an MVP".
Come again?
Look, maybe Garnett in the moment mixed up Beal with Kevin Durant. After all, the sentence previous he claimed that Booker could also be the MVP next season - a point we're inclined to agree with - and there's no doubt that while unlikely, Durant could have one more run at that trophy in him.
Now 35-years-old, he is coming back from an Olympic Games run that ended in glory, and like Booker has seen his own personal approval rating go up yet another notch. Durant is now the most successful male basketball player in Team USA history, and a high seed in a crowded Western Conference while putting up something like 28/7/5 would have to be considered.
"2012 was a turning point in my career"
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 20, 2024
Kevin Durant on the impact London 2012 had on his career and what the Olympic experience means to the younger members of Team USA.#Olympics | #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/fVOEU2KEW2
But the thoughts of Beal becoming an All-Star again - let alone the MVP of the league - are absolutely ridiculous. It's clear injuries are going to be part of the deal from now until he retires, while a bonafide third option on a team has never come close to being the MVP.
In fact it is not even a guarantee he will sniff 20 points a game from here on out - he managed a still impressive 18.2 last season - which a large part of the award going to players who show elite offensive play. Big men typically have an element of defensive points add to their case - and while Beal still has some juice on that end - has he ever been known as a lockdown defender?
Even at his best Beal wasn't in this conversation - Basketball Reference thinks he was in the Most Improved Player race twice in his career - and we haven't even considered both who has got next, and who still hasn't won the award. Surely Luka Doncic is going to get one, and Anthony Edwards would be a pretty solid bet at this stage as well.
KG, we love you... you're one of the best forwards the league has ever seen. But this take is incredibly wide of the mark. If you meant to say Durant we'll let you away with it but Bradley Beal as MVP of the league? We really have gotten lost in the wilderness of the NBA's quietest point in the offseason.