2023-06-21 21:44:41
According to media reports, the Phoenix Suns have agreed to trade Bradley Beal with the Washington Wizards. The 29-year-old joins the two Suns stars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
Forms a new Big Three in the Phoenix Suns with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant in the future: Bradley Beal. Getty Images
Rumors of an upcoming Bradley Beal trade have been heating up for the past few days. Among other things, the Miami Heat or Milwaukee Bucks were considered candidates for a deal for the three-time All-Star – but now the Phoenix Suns have been awarded the contract.
In the meantime, Beal’s agent Mark Bartelstein has also confirmed to “ESPN” that there is a basic framework for such a blockbuster trade. According to the report, it could take a while before the deal is officially finalized.
But there is no longer any doubt that Beal will leave the Wizards for Arizona. In return, the guard is dropping his no-trade clause, which was enshrined in his four-year, $207.7 million contract and which allowed him to block a move.
Suns attack with Booker, Durant, Beal and Ayton
Apparently, however, he could reconcile the idea of fighting for the NBA title alongside All-Stars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant and center Deandre Ayton. Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and several second-round picks as well as exchange rights for draft picks will probably migrate to the Wizards. Whether the 38-year-old Paul, whose contract (two years more than 60.8 million dollars) is not fully guaranteed, has a future in Washington is still open.
The Wizards are more likely to position themselves for a rebuild. Even with Beal, who scored 23.2 points and 5.4 assists per game last season, there has been no team success in Washington in recent years. In the past season, the franchise missed the postseason with 35 wins and 47 defeats – for the fourth time in the past five years.
In Washington, Beal’s dreams of a championship would hardly have come true, the scorer now gets this chance in Phoenix. “It was a very complicated process with a lot of hurdles, but Ted Leonsis (Wizards owner, note d. editor.) and Michael Winger (Wizards President, Note d. editor.) were incredible partners so that we could make this possible,” Bartelstein is quoted as saying by ESPN. “We are very grateful.”
Beal’s Wizards career ends after 11 years
The Suns now have four maximum contracts in their roster, with Booker, Durant, Beal and Ayton alone earning $163 million next season – the salary cap will probably be $134 million. This means that new team owner Mat Ishbia will have to pay heaps of luxury taxes to fund the roster – although the Suns will still need to work on their roster depth over the summer. In the future, the new collective agreement will also significantly restrict the flexibility in the composition of the teams above the salary cap. So the Suns are going all-in next season.
This marks the end of eleven years for Beal with the Wizards, from which he was selected third in the 2012 draft. In the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons he averaged over 30 points per game, but he has struggled with injuries in recent years. The Suns, meanwhile, lost to the eventual champions, the Denver Nuggets, in the second round after six games of the past playoffs.
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