If there is one player the Phoenix Suns most certainly do not miss this season, it is Bradley Beal. Although head coach Jordan Ott has been reluctant to play all of the young players at his disposal, the roster is still in a better place without the former Washington Wizards All-Star.
The 32-year-old was quickly snapped up by the L.A. Clippers after being bought out by the Suns this offseason, although he quickly lurched from one struggling franchise to another. Already the Beal experience has gone how you would expect it to in Los Angeles, featuring the missed games through injury and poor performances that were plentiful in The Valley.
Suns are in much better spot moving forward without Beal.
His most recent performance in a slender win over the hapless New Orleans Pelicans proved exactly why the Suns were right to buy him out when they did, even if he's going to be on their cap sheet for years to come. Beal got the start in the 126-124 win, although he managed only 21 minutes and mustered nine points.
It’s nice to see Bradley Beal in good spirits after all that happened in Phoenix pic.twitter.com/DaXhEfZ6BB
— ᴄʜᴀsᴇ (@BolieveInNix) October 25, 2025
On the season so far he has played in three of the five games his team have played, while the 6.7 points he has averaged is just over one-third (18.7) what he put up in his first season in Phoenix. Given that any Suns fan would be hard pressed to remember fondly a single game in which Beal went off, that drop off is horrible.
What buying Beal out has allowed the Suns to do is showcase the talents of Grayson Allen, who at this point might actually be more valuable to them than he would be in a trade. He's emerging as their best candidate to be moved at the deadline because he could net them back something of real value in return, that is unless they want to test the waters with Collin Gillespie.
Coach Ott has also been able to call upon Royce O'Neale more, which could increase his value some as well. Although the team rank in the bottom five in offensive rating right now, and it may not move much as the season progresses, it's not like having Beal out there would have made the situation much better.
His scoring output has fallen off a cliff while the hopes of Clippers' head coach Tyronn Lue to turn him into a defensive menace have yet to take off either. With Beal now playing alongside players well into their 30s in Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, plus 40-year-old Chris Paul, the Suns can look at their younger roster with more flexibility and know that sending him packing was the right decision.