Suns Delayed Bradley Beal Buyout Until After Advance Contract Payment

The Phoenix Suns are no dummies. And neither is Bradley Beal, and that is why the sides waited until July 16 to buy out Beal’s contract.

“We reported Saturday on The Stein Line that Bradley Beal’s Phoenix buyout was unlikely to happen until after a July 15th advance payment on his 2025-26 salary,” wrote Marc Stein of The Stein Line. “Now on July 16th, Beal’s deal to leave the Suns and join the Clippers has been announced.”

The buyout agreement was reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania about three minutes before the transaction was made official. Beal gave back $13.8 million in the buyout, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

Beal now becomes the latest big name to join the Los Angeles Clippers after being a big name who couldn’t get it done with the other big names in Phoenix (Devin Booker, Kevin Durant).

This time, he’ll team with Kawhi Leonard and James Harden in L.A. The Clippers were the same with and without Paul George, so it will be interesting to see if Beal makes a difference.

One thing is for certain, and that’s the fact that both Beal and the Suns needed a fresh start. Phoenix can now focus on building around Booker, Jalen Green, Mark Williams and several others and try to be a Western Conference surprise.

Some around the NBA will tell you they will be better without Beal and Durant. Some will tell you the Clippers may not be much better.

Either way, the Suns and Beal definitely played it right by agreeing to the buyout when they did.