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Suns shopping key rotational pieces if Bradley Beal buyout happens

Originally posted on Burn City Sports
By Tanner Tortorella | Last updated Jul 4, 2025 7:11 PM ET

The Phoenix Suns will be able to make a big deal if they are able to offload Bradley Beal’s salary. NBA Insider Marc Stein sees the franchise’s discussions around a buyout with Bradley Beal intensifying as general manager Brian Gregory looks to move off key rotational pieces. Gregory has been shopping Grayson Allen, Nick Richards, and Royce O’Neale around the league to various of teams. The struggle for Phoenix is not able to aggregate salaries, or combine salaries for a single player because of the current CBA.

The Suns are over the second apron, meaning they’re stuck doing one-for-one trades unless they get under that mark. Buying out Beal’s contract and spreading it over the next five seasons would help them create enough flexibility to combine contracts for bigger name players.

Stein on Suns strategy moving forward:

Bradley Beal buyout discussions have "intensified," per @TheSteinLine.

The Suns have also "engaged various teams," on the Richards/Allen/O'Neale front

There's A LOT going on with the Suns as we enter the holiday weekend pic.twitter.com/Cs4ns9sqW3

— PHNX Suns (@PHNX_Suns) July 4, 2025

The roster is currently overload with shooting guards and centers. Allen, O’Neale and Beal are all inferior options to shooting guards like Devin Booker and Jalen Green. The roster is in need of a playmaking guard. Rumors have suggested the front office and Chris Paul having interest with one another. However, if they can’t agree to a contract, then Gregory could combine any of those guards’ contracts to trade for a true floor general point guard for next season.

Besides a point guard, Gregory could look for some length in exchange for Allen, O’Neale or others as those guards are all 6’4 and below. The additions of Dillon Brooks and Rasheer Fleming will be nice to pair with second-year forward Ryan Dunn, but the modern NBA loves 3-D forwards that possess length and the ability to knock down outside shots.

The forward rotation is top-heavy and combining Allen and O’Neale’s salary brings it to nearly $27 million, which would allow Gregory to acquire a premier forward to fill out the starting lineup. The options include John Collins, Miles Bridges, John Collins, Rui Hachimura and other big forwards.

This article first appeared on Burn City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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