Suns Made One of NBA's Worst Offseason Moves

B/R's Dan Favale says the Suns' decision to buy and stretch Beal will be one of the worst offseason decisions:

"Putting the Phoenix Suns on this list for buying out and then waiving-and-stretching Bradley Beal while not including the Milwaukee Bucks for waiving-and-stretching Damian Lillard can seem hypocritical," he wrote.

"Both teams now have a boatload of dead money on their books—$19.4 million for the Suns, $22.5 million for the Bucks—over the next half-decade.

"But Milwaukee is taking the hit on Lillard's deal to add Myles Turner and buy itself at least one more year with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Phoenix is paying Beal to play for the Los Angeles Clippers to...lower its tax bill.

"Getting out of the second apron is a big deal for the Suns—and not just because it saves team governor Mat Ishbia some serious scratch. It helps ensure their 2032 pick is eventually unfrozen and won't be moved to the end of the first round. But if you view setting $19.4 million on fire for five consecutive years as the only way to elude the second apron, something's off.

"It's one thing if Phoenix did this to pave the way for another big move. It didn't. Devin Booker's extension doesn't count. The Suns added a whopping one guaranteed year of team control to the equation, and given they're still on the fast track nowhere post-Beal, he was clearly going to sign it no matter what."

Beal's time in Phoenix was clearly coming to an end, and though he'll still have salary cap ramifications down the line, it simply made sense for the Suns to move on from Beal.

The Beal experiment was a massive failure in the desert for numerous reasons. Will things get better for either the Suns or Beal in their different endevaors in the future?

Time ultimately will tell, though it was tough to justify Beal's presence on the roster moving into the new season.