The Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards kicked off what is expected to be a wild offseason with three-time all-star Bradley Beal being traded to the Suns to form a Big Three with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
In some fashion, it allowed both teams to hit the reset button. The Suns had already begun the process of a significant shakeup after replacing head coach Monty Williams with Frank Vogel, but remained a serious contender for the Larry O’Brien Trophy with the addition of Beal.
The Wizards finally committed to a rebuild after years of settling for mediocrity with the oft-injured Beal as the No. 1 offensive option alongside little depth to aid the star guard. Washington hasn’t secured a winning season since 2017-18, but still set its sights on playoff and play-in appearances, reaching the playoffs just once since then with Beal and Russell Westbrook leading the Wizards to a first-round exit in 2020-21.
The trade resembled a typical salary cap dump for the Wizards, with the return of Landry Shamet, Chris Paul (who is not expected to play for the Wizards), multiple second-round picks and pick swaps appearing to be underwhelming for a star of Beal’s caliber. But getting off of Beal’s albatross contract, which will grant the 29-year-old guard $207,740,400 across the next four seasons, was a major win for the Wizards, freeing up space to allow Washington to rebuild in earnest.
It was the right move for Washington, who appear to also be engaged in trade talks with the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers which would send center Kristaps Porzingis — who is coming off one of the best seasons of his career — to the Celtics, further accelerating their rebuild.
The Suns are in a peculiar place as a result of this trade. Sure, they have a trio of all-star caliber players in Durant, Booker and Beal, and a solid, though unreliable, big man in Deandre Ayton, but are slated to pay that quartet north of $160 million next season, leaving very little space to fill out the roster outside of those guys.
The most clear option to alleviating those salary cap woes would be to trade Ayton, who last offseason appeared to be on his way out of Phoenix after signing a max contract with the Indiana Pacers as a restricted free agent until the Suns decided to match the offer sheet. There have been several concerns regarding Ayton’s work ethic and fit in Phoenix, and a change of scenery could be beneficial for both sides.
It will be a busy offseason for the Suns, who will likely have to fill out their entire bench through free agency. In regard to some potential targets, I could see the Suns bringing back Ish Wainwright, who provided solid perimeter defense on the wing last season, along with several affordable guys such as Javonte Green, Juan Toscano-Anderson or Danny Green — just spitballing names, not sure how I would feel about any of these guys on the Suns but those are examples of the caliber of players they would need to bring in.
I’m not sure what to really make of this trade for either side.
Yes, the Suns got stronger at the top, but their depth is concerning for a team with title aspirations and I really can’t make any true assessment about this team until we see how they shape out the roster from 5-12.
In regard to the Wizards, they definitely made the right move by pivoting to a legitimate rebuild, but I was a little underwhelmed by the draft capital they received from Phoenix.
All in all, this trade was an excellent start to what’s shaping up to be another monumental offseason in the NBA.
Photo Credit: The Stadium
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