Latest free agent signing shows Suns are still feeling impact of Beal trade

After an eventful 2024 NBA Draft for the Phoenix Suns in which they surprised many by bringing in three young and hungry players, attentions now turn to free agency. Not that the organization can do much, armed with only the veteran's minimum to attract players.

Outside of bringing back Royce O'Neale - a situation that looks like it will be quickly resolved - the players the Suns will be able to attract with this money is hugely important to filling out the back end of their rotation. Last season they had success in adding Eric Gordon in this way, while players like Yuta Watanabe and Keita Bates-Diop failed to catch on.

It now looks like Bol Bol is going to come back to The Valley again in 2024-25, but does this highlight a bigger problem around a previous trade?

As a result of trading for Bradley Beal one year ago, the Suns will be spending $149 million alone next season on the trio of Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. It is because of the monster deals these three stars are on, that the franchise is turning to players like Bol - limited in what they can do - for the second year running to pad out their roster.

Bol's first year in Phoenix was his fifth in the league, and it was during this time it looked like he finally found a home in the NBA. It is no surprise that he wanted to come back, with offseason workouts alongside Durant already in the books and assistant coach David Fizdale raving about his attitude each day. Bol was also a fan favorite as well.

He managed better numbers while with the Orlando Magic when they were decimated by injury the year prior to joining, but there was more consistency to his game in The Valley. An awful defender, Bol was able to spread the floor by shooting 42.3 percent from 3-point range and had a two month stretch between Christmas and the end of February where he consistently contributed.

But come the postseason, previous head coach Frank Vogel just didn't trust Bol enough to make the rotation. New leading man Mike Budenholzer might think differently, but that gets at the heart of why bringing Bol back isn't necessarily a good thing. Great and all as it is to see him catch on with the Suns, this is a team that was just swept in the opening round of the playoffs.

Taking a swing on Bol is nice - and it has definitely worked out relative to expectations for the player - but the Suns actually need a lot more from any player they sign on a minimum deal. Remember, they expected Bates-Diop and Chimezie Metu to be two of their nine best players last season, and Watanabe can likely be included in that group as well.

None of the three survived the trade deadline, and it is the addition of Beal that really hamstrung the organization as it sent them into the second apron. They now don't have access to using the midlevel when trying to sign players, and they can't aggregate salaries in a trade either. Which is why the signing of Bol goes from a nice story to actually needing him to meaningfully contribute quickly.

Obviously the Suns had Chris Paul prior to Beal - and he too was on a ton of money - which is why the trade was able to work. But he is entering the final year of his current deal, and at $30 million is making a whopping $20 million less than Beal in 2024-25. Even worse, Beal is owed $160 million across the next three seasons.

Which is why the organization will continue to feel the impact of having Beal on this roster with every player that they sign throughout free agency. His contract is the one that sent the Suns from a tough situation to a practically impossible one, and it is why the front office will have to continue trying to work miracles, such as being able to get Bol and then ask him to step up, for some time to come yet.