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The Phoenix Suns reportedly found just two teams willing to take on Bradley Beal’s $50 million cap hit when testing out potential trades for Jimmy Butler.
According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst, “of all the teams Phoenix canvassed, sources said only the Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks would consider taking on Beal if he’d waive his no-trade clause to go there.”
The Suns were working to move Beal’s cap hit in order to take on Butler’s $48.8 million cap hit, but the Heat would not accept Beal in a one-for-one trade, according to Shelburne and Windhorst.
According to Shelburne and Windhorst, the Suns “clung to that hope for weeks” that the Wizards or Hawks would eventually take on Beal’s contract.
The Suns were “hoping that if they could somehow improve their package to incentivize these teams to participate, and other trades the Wizards and Hawks were working on fell through, then maybe there would be a path to a deal,” according to Shelburne and Windhorst.
It was ultimately the Golden State Warriors who managed to construct a five-team deal to snag Butler from the Heat.
Both the Hawks, who sent out De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanović, and the Wizards, who parted ways with Kyle Kuzma and Jonas Valančiūnas, were busy at the deadline, but not with anything involving Beal.
Even if the Warriors or Hawks had pursued him, however, it is not clear if Beal would have waived his no-trade clause to join either team.
It has been less than two years since Beal waived his no-trade in order to be dealt by the Wizards, and he again has full control over where he is moved.
Even Beal had waived the clause again for another move at the 2025 deadline, he would again retain trade control for the final two seasons and more than $110 million remaining on his contract. In a previous report, Shelburne and Windhorst wrote that Beal keeping his no-trade clause after a potential move was a “deal-breaker” for “multiple team executives.”
The Suns are now set to keep both Beal and Kevin Durant after reportedly shopping both stars at the deadline. After Shelburne reported the reports led to a “toxic” vibe in Phoenix, the Suns will need to work on repairing team chemistry before more trade rumors involving both players inevitably begin this offseason.
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