Suns Slammed After Kevin Durant Trade, Bradley Beal Buyout

The Phoenix Suns are in an era of transition after trading Kevin Durant and buying out Bradley Beal's contract before he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.

ESPN listed where every team is ahead of the 2025-26 season, but they placed the Suns in their own tier because this is a roster that's a result of Phoenix's past mistakes.

"The Suns are the cautionary tale of what happens when going all-in goes wrong. If these tiers were from the start of the 2023-24 season, the Suns would have clearly been all-in on a title after adding Bradley Beal to a core of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Phoenix boasted one of the league's most expensive rosters and controlled none of its first-round picks, having re-swapped several with an eye toward deadline upgrades," ESPN wrote.

"Not only did the Beal-Durant era yield no championship, the Suns didn't win a playoff game and then agreed to a buyout with Beal last month. Phoenix is out of the second apron, but a guard-heavy roster in the wake of the Durant trade has no clear timeline. The Suns haven't traded their 2032 first-round pick, but only because they can't -- it was frozen due to apron restrictions. And Phoenix has no path to significant cap space with Booker and Beal's salary both on the books through 2030."

The Suns are forced to work with what they have, but their assets have been severely compromised as a result of their big swing for the fences.

Because the Suns swung and missed, they not only have frustration that stems from the past but they also have trouble acquiring free agents and less flexibility in adding talent.

This will put the Suns in a hole for a while, but their roster is good enough to compete for a spot in the Play-In Tournament.