With Sunday night's dispiriting 116-98 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves - on national television no less - condemning the Phoenix Suns to a 28-33 record, plenty of fans in The Valley are about ready for this campaign to be over. One that has been miserable from start to finish - save that hot 8-1 start - and only makes former head coach Frank Vogel look even better for what he managed last season.
Bradley Beal not only started that game - having been moved to the bench earlier this season - he also tallied 18 points, the second highest of any player in a Suns' uniform. It's complicated with Beal - but as much as it pains some people to admit it - the play of the 31-year-old hasn't been one of the key problems this year. It's what he does to their cap sheet that hurts the most.
The Suns could be presented with a way out of this mess.
Marc Stein of the always informative Stein Line dropped some notes on the trade deadline - despite it passing almost a month ago - around the time the Suns were being beaten by the Timberwolves, and much of his intel centered around Beal. Rather than once again point out that no other organizations are interested in him, he went so far as to claim that one actually are.
The Washington Wizards.
That's right - the franchise that signed him to the monstrous contract he's currently playing on - seemingly can't quit their former All-Star. Even though they couldn't wait to get out of the Beal business in flipping him for Chris Paul - before then waiving the "Point God", the Wizards were apparently open to taking him back at the deadline.
The Suns at that point were trying desperately to find a way to add Jimmy Butler - and although they came up short - this is an interesting development to keep an eye on this offseason. It is unclear what else the Wizards would be looking for to get this done - the Suns have next to no draft capital left and it is about to get worse - but you best believe there would be a price to get this done.
Suns fans when they trade Bradley Beal for pennies pic.twitter.com/e1Vyt1LXz8 https://t.co/5sWz1obnNW
— 🧘🏾♂️ (@bdrip1k) February 28, 2025
Beal obviously has a no-trade clause - it is the other major stumbling block about moving on from him - but Stein had one very good reason he might be willing to waive that to go back to the nation's capital. Right now Beal is 160 points away from breaking Elvin Hayes' record as the top-scorer in Wizards' history.
Given Beal isn't going to win a championship in Phoenix, this notable accolade is about as good as it is going to get between now and when he retires. That might be a premature and negative statement, but there is a way to look at this optimistically as well. What if Beal went back to the team that drafted him, and then broke that record.
After that - and with his current deal having expired - he could sign on for something like the midlevel to join a contending group. Beal's talent has never been the problem, he's just miscast in Phoenix and is too injury-prone to be reliable in the ways that he used to be. That doesn't mean there isn't a happy ending for everybody here, and it is one the Suns would surely love to push for.