Bradley Beal’s contract is a problem as the NBA’s trade deadline approaches.
The Phoenix Suns guard is currently in the third season of a five-year, $251 million contract he signed with the Washington Wizards. The nearly $111 million he’s set to make on top of the $50 million he’s making this season aren’t the biggest issues in the deal. He also has a full no-trade clause, which is making it incredibly difficult for the Suns to move him.
An NBA player rarely gets a no-trade clause. Beal and LeBron James are the only players to have them in their current contracts. In fact, in the history of the NBA only 10 players have ever received them, a list that consists of David Robinson, John Stockton, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, James and Beal.
It’s shocking that Beal is included on that list.
Jimmy Butler is one of the biggest pieces available at this year’s trade deadline and Phoenix is his preferred destination. It seems like the Suns would love to add him to Kevin Durant and Devin Booker while dumping Beal. A deal like that would allow the Miami Heat to rid themselves of Butler and Phoenix to ship out an underperforming, overpriced Beal. That said, he’d only waive his no trade clause for the right fit and that doesn’t seem to be out there.
CBS Sports’ Bill Reiter quoted an Eastern Conference executive as saying, “[Beal] is now controlling the biggest trade in the NBA because he got something from Washington two years ago no one else would have given him.”
Beal is a three-time All-Star but hasn’t lived up to his deal in Phoenix. He’s averaging 16.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists, while playing 32.6 minutes per game this season.
Normally it’d be easy to ship him to a team that would take a boatload of draft picks in exchange for onboarding his lucrative contract. But the Suns simply can’t do that unless they find Beal a place he’d like to play.
That’s turning into a nearly impossible task.
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