Suns preparing to devote nearly half their salary cap to two guards

The two-year Beal experiment in Phoenix did not go well. Injuries limited Beal to just 53 games per season, while the "Big Three" of Beal, Booker and Kevin Durant didn't win a single playoff game. Phoenix will opt for a "Big One" instead, trading Durant to the Houston Rockets and likely agreeing to a contract extension with Booker soon.

After planning to give Booker $75M per year, the Suns plan to waive and stretch Beal's $110.8M over two seasons, though Beal has to surrender just under $14M in a potential buyout. That's because total money being stretched — over the next five seasons in Beal's case — can't exceed 15 percent of the salary cap, and the Suns have already stretched the contracts of Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell.

Instead, Beal would count for $19.4M against the salary cap for the next five seasons. With Booker expected to make $321M over those seasons, it means the Suns would be devoting an average of $83.6M to two guards, while one of them is playing elsewhere or has retired.

Next season, it would then be a combined $72.5M for Booker and Beal, not to mention the $33.3M for new shooting guard Jalen Green. That's a lot of money for Green, but at least he'll be playing basketball for the Suns for that money. That's almost $106M for the shooting guard position, while the total salary cap is $154.6M.

Phoenix's dramatic move is a consequence of how punishing the NBA's luxury-tax system has become. The Suns paid over $152M in tax last season, more than the actual salary cap. Repeater penalties in 2025-26 would have made the bill even higher, so the Suns would get under the tax line with Beal's buyout. Amazingly, giving Beal nearly $100M not to play would save them money.

It's still a bleak picture going forward, especially after the Suns gave up most of their future draft capital to add Durant and Beal in the first place. Like the Milwaukee Bucks after their buyout of Damian Lillard, the team is looking at five seasons with a giant hole in its salary cap ($22.5M per season for Milwaukee).

That's a tough way to operate, especially when the current team isn't great. Phoenix needs Green to play like a former No. 2 pick, or its future could be dire, and it might end up trading or stretching Booker, too.