BREAKING: All Star Guard Bradley Beal Traded to the Phoenix Suns
Sports Editor Will Lyons takes a look at the impact of the trade that sends All Star G Bradley Beal to Phoenix with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
The short lived drama surrounding Brad Beal’s exit from the Nation’s capital is now over. After narrowing down the list to two teams, Phoenix and Miami, the Wizards are finalizing a deal to ship Bradley Beal to the Suns. After toying with the idea of waiving veteran and future Hall of Fame Point Guard Chris Paul the Suns were able to flip his salary as part of the deal to acquire Beal.
WAS sends G Bradley Beal to PHO for G Chris Paul, G Landry Shamet, multiple second round picks and pick swaps.
Ranking the Trade:
Washington Impact
Essentially Washington gets rid of a star player that no longer wishes to be there. After years of losing Beal exits the capital. The Wizards acquire Chris Paul, one of the most steady point guards in NBA history. CP3 is the embodiment of having your coach on the court at all times.
The issue with Paul at this stage of his career is simple, Father Time is undefeated. While Paul has one of the highest IQ’s of all time he is not the player he once was. He will not be able to carry the Wizards and is likely to request a buyout as I doubt Paul welcomes being shipped into a rebuild from a contending situation.
Guard Landry Shamet is a solid shooter off the bench but Washington clearly needs much more. And the picks value will remain too be seen. Multiple second rounders and picks swaps from a team that is almost guaranteed for playoff contention can’t have much value long term.
Phoenix Impact
Phoenix still does not have a player that can replace Mikal Bridges defensive impact. Adding in Beal is a nice move for NBA 2K players but it still does not fix the glaring issues of depth in Phoenix. The main question that many will be asking is who will be the Suns point guard moving forward?
They will have a point guard by committee with Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant all capable of bringing the ball down and initiating the offense. It is mind boggling how Phoenix was able to acquire Beal while keeping the polarizing DeAndre Ayton on the roster. Phoenix will have a lot to figure out but they should be able to score with almost an team in the league.
Conclusion
Overall this trade is the conclusion of a disgruntled NBA star flexing his no-trade clause to force Washington to send him to his prefered destination. The NBA’s arms race of Super Teams is coming to a conclusion but Beal was still able to end up in Phoenix before the new Collective Bargaining Agreement shifts the balance of power league wide. This is one of the most lopsided trades in recent memory and I still do not see it putting the Suns over the reigning champs or some of the other contending teams in the league.
