As they approach a summer of huge potential change, the Phoenix Suns are reportedly considering a potential buyout agreement with Bradley Beal. This would obviously be a move that would be an attempt to fix their past mistake of taking on his huge contract, but it could easily be something that dooms the franchise to an even more unfavorable situation going forward.
Cutting ties with Beal would seem to be a smart choice in a vaccuum, but we have to consider something very important here. If Beal agrees to a buyout, he will still have two years and over $100 million owed to him on his current contract (the second of which being a player option). That is a lot of money to burn, and it could very easily cripple the Suns' financial flexibility.
There's no question that bringing Beal onto this roster was a flat-out mistake, and no one is denying that at this point. What initially looked like a smart move to bring in a veteran scorer quickly turned into a disaster as his consistency diminished due to age and injury, and it became extremely obvious that his skillset was very synonymous with the likes of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
Buying out Beal would create more problems than it solves
Yes, moving on from Beal is probably exactly what needs to be done. But you can't simply buy him out with that horrendous contract still attached to him. We have to remember that a buyout does not make Beal's salary simply disappear. At the end of the month, that direct deposit is still going to be hitting his bank account for a few million and change.
Instead, agreeing to a buyout with Beal would mean that salary would remain on the Suns' books even with him no longer in the locker room. That dead cap space would do nothing to improve Phoenix's ability to build a successful roster around Devin Booker moving forward.
You can't simply go waiving players with big contracts simply because you finally realized just how much you messed up. That decision is going to even further hamper you down the road. If you want to effectively move on from Bradley Beal, the only logical way to do so is going to be by trading him to the highest bidder.
Of course, there's not likely to be a ton of suitors desperate to bring Beal on to their roster. But again, if you're the Phoenix Suns, it's the best option you have at this point. Buying out number three would feel satisfying in a sense, but it would be like addressing only the symptoms of a disease or illness rather than treating the root cause. You're only going to make it harder on yourself.