Suns Rivals Interested in Bradley Beal Upon Buyout

The Phoenix Suns are expected to buy out Bradley Beal any day now, and several teams are already lined up as potential suitors for the three-time All-Star, including Phoenix's divisional rivals -- the Los Angeles Lakers.

According to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, NBA Insiders, the Lakers are among five teams with interest in Beal as soon as the buyout is completed. Joining Los Angeles are the Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks.

“The Clippers, Lakers, Warriors, Timberwolves and, yes, Giannis' Bucks are teams with a confirmed interest in signing Beal once he reaches the open market … with the Clippers widely regarded as a particularly strong contender to land the 33-year-old former All-Star,” the insiders wrote.

The Bucks set a precedent when they waived and stretched Damian Lillard's $113 million remaining on his contract just over a week ago, paving the way for Phoenix to be more inclined to rid Beal's $110 million over the next two seasons.

Beal's tenure with the Suns has been nothing but disappointing. After trading for the three-time All-Star the same offseason it traded for Kevin Durant, Phoenix hadn't seen a single playoff win in the two seasons Beal was on the roster.

One of the reasons the Suns didn't consider a buyout during their 2024-25 season was because of how tedious and, quite frankly, how historically uncommon such a move would be. However, in this new era of the salary cap, we've seen two teams make historic buyouts: the Bucks with Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers with former Suns center Deandre Ayton.

Yes, Phoenix will eat a ton of money, but it's been evident for nearly three seasons now that Beal's fit on the team is redundant and a change is desperately needed.

ESPN NBA Front Office Insider Bobby Marks expects the Suns to pull the trigger on buying out the $110.8 million remaining on Beal's contract, but detailed how it would be very different from Lillard's situation.

"Well, he's got to get a home first," Marks said on the Ryen Russillo Podcast.

"It's not going to be the Lillard one. Because here's the thing with Beal, Lillard and him are different because Phoenix has already waived and stretched Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell, so they're already got $3.5 million on the books. So, you can't just waive and stretch Beal without doing a buyout because it would exceed the 15 percent of the cap.

"Can he get the non-tax [mid-level exception] no the market?" Marks asked rhetorically. "I went through the numbers last night. There's not many teams that have money as you'd think and there are teams teams that have it but are right against the first apron, and that gets triggered if you use it.

"I would think that a buyout happens. It's a matter of; is he willing take a little bit less of the $110 [million]? Would he take... $96, $97 [million] from Phoenix if he can get eight or nine from another team and he loses three or four million dollars? I think that's the biggest questions. But, I think if there is a buyout, he has to take money off [his contract]."

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