Insider: Bradley Beal's Future With Suns Gets Major Update

The Phoenix Suns could be left with no choice but to keep Bradley Beal going into next season.

It has been speculated by Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro that Beal will not be on the 2025-26 roster following a disastrous first two seasons in the Valley, which saw him play in only 64.6% of possible games due to various injuries and post the lowest plus/minus on the team last season when he did play at -5.2.

Fans grew tired of Beal with his unavailability and concerned with his lack of effort at times on the court. It did not help that his name was swirling in trade rumors that never ended up happening for a few months last year, that he was benched for 15 games and that the Suns missed the 2025 playoffs for the first time in five years after finishing the season 36-46 even with the star power on their roster.

When Phoenix acquired Beal from the Washington Wizards for a package that included Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and several future draft picks in June 2023, the Suns also took on the remaining four years of his massive five-year, $251 million contract that includes a no-trade clause, giving him the right to veto any potential trade. The only other active player that has this clause in their contract is LeBron James.

Beal might be left with no significant role at all with the Suns next year after they traded for Jalen Green, a 23-year-old with star potential who plays the same position as him, as part of the return package for Kevin Durant to pair alongside Devin Booker.

Still, Beal prefers to remain in Phoenix, but could be swayed by a trade to the right destination, according to The Athletic's Fred Katz, who wrote:

"Phoenix could try to trade Beal, as it did this past season, but his no-trade clause remains. The same that was true before the 2025 trade deadline is the case today, according to a league source familiar with Beal’s thought process: Beal would be open to the right trade that sends him the right destination, but his preference is to remain in Phoenix, even if the team won only 35 games a season ago and just downgraded from Kevin Durant, who it dealt to the Houston Rockets last weekend.

"Since leaving Washington in 2023, Beal’s wife and kids have moved from D.C. to Los Angeles and then, before the start of this season, to Phoenix full time. Playing for another team would leave him with two options: He would have to either pull his kids out of school, moving them again, or leave his family altogether, neither of which excites him."

It would even prove difficult to trade Beal for the Suns at this point if he did not have his no-trade clause, given that he still has two years and over $110 million left on his contract, meaning no contender will likely try to acquire Beal and give him pause about the potential of going to a weaker team.

For example, the Chicago Bulls, who have been a middle-of-the-pack team for the last few years, have been rumored to be a possibility for Beal because of their financial situation and undesirable contracts they also have, but Beal told Sportico’s Barry Bloom very clearly in a story published Feb. 1:

“There’s no way on earth I’ll play for the Bulls.”

Even after trading Durant, Beal's contract is keeping the Suns above the second apron, which limits their roster building significantly as they most notably cannot aggregate players in trades, take back more than 100% of the money they send out in trades and only sign incoming free agents to veteran-minimum deals.

A buyout from the Suns is possible, but would have to come at a lower number than this $110 million, as Katz explained:

"Reports from local outlets have emerged that Phoenix would consider waiving and stretching Beal’s contract, a move that could seriously hinder the Suns’ flexibility down the line but would help them stay below the second apron in 2025-26. Of course, waiving and stretching Beal — a rule that would allow Phoenix to release Beal from his contract and then spread the $110 million it owes him over five years instead of two, lessening his cap number to approximately $22 million a year — isn’t even possible without Beal giving back money, which would be out of character.

"There is a niche rule in the collective bargaining agreement that prevents teams from waiving and stretching players willy-nilly. In this case, the Suns would be victims of it.

"In any given season, the stretched money on a team’s books can equal no more than 15 percent of that year’s salary cap. The cap for next season is projected to be $154.6 million. Beal’s stretched money, the previously mentioned $22 million, would equal 14.3 percent of that."

Katz then wrote about how the Suns "shot themselves in the foot" in terms of a buyout:

"In August 2024, they waived and stretched two players: Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell. Despite those moves running under the radar (and despite the eerily similar last names), these moves don’t appear little now.

"Little’s money is on Phoenix’s books into the 2030s. Liddell’s is there for the next two seasons. In 2025-26, the Suns owe the two a combined $3.8 million in dead money, which would combine with Beal’s hypothetical dead money to make up more than 15 percent of next season’s salary cap.

"So for the Suns to waive Beal, they would have to get him to agree to give back a consequential portion of his contract — $2.7 million a year over those five years. It adds up to $13.8 million total.

"Beal could make that money back (or he could possibly add to his income) after hitting the open market. I asked a few executives around the league what they believe Beal could be worth if he were a free agent. The consensus was in the range of the mid-level exception, which starts with a $14.1 million salary in 2025-26. But while certain winning situations or spectacular organizations would appeal to him, according to league sources, he’s also not trying to leave his family or upend their lives.

"It means that once again, the Suns and Beal aren’t in a much different situation than they were back when Phoenix was calling around the league in search of a place he’d be willing to go, and that would also be down to absorb his large contract. Despite the noise, the Suns didn’t get close to offloading Beal then. At least one crucial element of this saga would have to change for them to get close now."

The Beal situation remains a very difficult one, and Phoenix might just have to resort to having him back on the team next year and figuring out how to utilize him.