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Bradley Beal‘s trade to the Phoenix Suns is set to be finalised in the coming days. The NBA landscape is still adjusting to the velocity of the transfer and the other permutations involved in the agreement. Have the Suns got the best deal? Or will the Washington Wizards have the last laugh in the Beal Suns trade?
Beal Suns trade
While the trade is still live, the details are widely reported to be as follows:
- The three-time All-Star guard player, Bradley Beal will move to the Phoenix Suns.
- Chris Paul and Landry Shamet are going to the Wizards.
- The Wizards will also receive multiple future second-round picks and a picks swap.
- The Suns could also acquire Jordan Goodwin and Isiah Todd as part of the deal.
All these factors make the Beal Suns trade easily one of the biggest stories in the Suns’ offseason and the wider NBA summer.
Phoenix Suns trade grade: B
It’s a good deal whenever you pick up a top player who’s recently played in the All-Star game. Bradley Beal has already missed enough playoff campaigns, as the Washington Wizards struggled to keep up in the East. The Suns are hot right now having made the Conference semi-finals in the last two seasons. In addition, they made the NBA finals in the prior campaign. Beal is another great quality addition to help the efforts at the Footprint Center to keep up this echelon of play and potentially go further.
The only drawbacks are the excessive amount of outgoings in the trade. While Chris Paul is 38 years old and not the same player he was ten years ago, he’s still a wise head to have around the franchise. Landry Shamet is leaving the team and also sees them lose the opportunity to see how the player will progress, essentially ruling out the chance he will play himself into Sun’s folklore. The future picks explain themselves, while the Suns probably don’t need a major influx of drafted players giving away so many backs them into a corner.
Overall, however, gaining Bradley Beal is the headline and will only bolster the immediate quality of the roster as the team urges to win the title and even improve on their stellar 45-37 regular season record from last year. Beal also comes in with a decent following, having recently entered the Top 20 Rankings from ESPN. Expect the Beal Suns jerseys to be a top seller next year. This ensures that they get a solid B mark in Beal trade grades.
Washington Wizards trade grade: D+
On the other hand of the Beal trade grades… there are a lot of variables in this for the Washington Wizards to have anything other than a D. Bradley Beal is the player that both teams would ideally want to have on their roster. Yet, Beal has seemingly run his race at the Capital One Arena and is set on joining the Phoenix Suns.
The team will miss the player for his on-court abilities primarily. He’s been at the heart of an inconsistent franchise and stood out as a very good player despite not all those around him doing so. However with Kristaps Porziņģis also rumored to be exploring his free agency options, it suggests a systemic issue with the team to keep its best players.
If both players leave the Wizards, they’ll need to recuperate some star power. After all, these two aren’t just good players but they move the needle in keeping the team relevant and popular, which in turn generates money through jersey sales, etc.
Chris Paul is an answer to that question but just not a long-term one. The Jordan Brand and State Farm firm have long sponsored the player making him a lucrative asset to the Wizards, as he would bring eyeballs to the team – but how much can he help on the court? Learning a brand new system and adapting to a new coaching style at the age of 38 sounds cumbersome at best. That said, he’s still performing at a good level. After all, he played in the NBA All-Star game 12 times and as recently as 2022.
Landry Shamet is the other key name in the trade. Shamet made 29 fewer appearances last season than the previous campaign, suggesting he was being phased out by the Suns. The 26-year-old has had glimpses of real quality – scoring 19 points in a 129-124 clutch win for the Suns against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semi-finals. Yet, he’s not been consistent enough for the Suns to want to keep him around. Given the rebuild project at the Wizards, it’s a good platform to see exactly what Shamet can do when given a more prominent role.
The future picks come with no caveat for the Wizards. Essentially, free picks at a later date shouldn’t be scoffed at. While they aren’t negative, it doesn’t mean they’ll get the next world-beater in the draft. The graduates could be all awful and they just end up in the same position. Yet, they are still nice to have in their back pocket.
Given that the Wizards are losing their talisman and only gaining a veteran and an inconsistent player, the team might want to consider other offseason trade candidates.
