The Phoenix Suns made a trade on Tuesday, but it wasn’t the one we were expecting. In a deal with the Utah Jazz, the Suns sent out their unprotected 2031 first-round pick in exchange for three lesser first-round picks: the least favorable between Minnesota’s and Cleveland’s in 2025, and the least favorable of Minnesota’s, Cleveland’s and Utah’s in 2027 and 2029. Now, at the risk of cueing the Brian Windhorst fingers, why would the Suns do that? What’s going on in Phoenix?
Well, in short, they still very much seem to be trying to trade for Jimmy Butler. This deal was designed as a step in that direction. Why? Because the Suns had only one tradable first-round pick before Tuesday. They could have sent that pick to Miami for Butler, but then they’d have no assets left to use to convince someone to take on Bradley Beal’s contract. Beal’s contract has to be in the trade because the Suns, as a second-apron team, can neither aggregate salaries nor take in more money than they send out in any trade. Now, with three picks instead of one, they can divide and conquer. Those picks will now presumably be divided between the Heat and any other facilitating parties in the deal, most notably one who would be absorbing Beal.
Is there a Beal taker yet? It’s a complicated question not only because of his disappointing production and supermax contract, but because of his no-trade clause. The Suns can’t simply banish him to Detroit and call it a day. They’ll have to find a home he consents to. For now, the likeliest such home appears to be the Milwaukee Bucks.
According to Suns insider John Gambadoro, Beal would be open to potentially waiving that no-trade clause to join the Bucks. Multiple reporters have indicated that the Bucks have potential interest in Beal, and there’s a viable framework here. The Bucks could send the expensive but shorter contracts belonging to Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis to the Heat, allowing Miami to retain its 2026 cap space, and take Beal back in return.
This brings up our next major hiccup. The Bucks are a second-apron…
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