Bradley Beal Gets Brutally Honest About Phoenix Suns’ Failures & Future

A day following the Phoenix Suns’ abrupt exit from the NBA playoffs, courtesy of a sweep by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Bradley Beal spoke about the detrimental impact of recurring health issues and insufficient team consistency.

This season concluded with a 49-game win in the regular season, despite Beal himself missing 29 games. He believes the team’s fortunes would have differed had injuries not sidelined key players.

“I mean, in retrospect we won 49 [regular-season] games,” Beal said. “That’s a lot of games. And I missed what, 30 games, roughly? That’s a lot of games. I’m not saying we’d have won every game if I’d have played, but we would be in a totally different position if I’m healthy the whole year, if everybody’s healthy the whole year.”

The trio of Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant managed only 41 games together, achieving a record that projected them as a top contender had they maintained full health. Phoenix went 26-15 in those games despite needing more reps to build chemistry for their point guard experiment.

“We didn’t look at this thing as a one-year thing and we’re going to come in and just, we only got this year to figure it out,” Beal said. “No, we’ve got time. You don’t want to use that as a cop-out, but the reality we live in, that’s the game plan.”

Despite a season riddled with setbacks, Beal echoes the Suns’ optimistic sentiment about their future. They focused on harnessing their current core’s potential to achieve their championship aspirations.

“We have a window. Yeah, it’s a short window, but we have a window, so we want to maximize it as much as possible,” Beal said. “And obviously, we still have a lot of room to grow. We all have to be better. I’ve got to be better. And we all have to be better as an organization and move towards that goal of winning the title, which isn’t easy.”

Beal did not mince words when reflecting on the Suns’ disappointing playoff run. With high hopes for both his team and personal performance, the stark reality of their swift exit was palpable.

“It’s a [expletive] feeling, excuse my language,” Beal expressed. “You have huge expectations for yourself as a team and obviously individually to contribute and be a part of something really big, and that series just sucked.”

Beal, recently acquired from Washington, looks ahead to fulfilling his significant role with the Suns, backed by a contract extension and a clear commitment to overcoming this season’s hurdles.