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Bradley Beal Trade Rumors: Suns Have 'Tried Almost Every Team' in NBA to Move Star

Adam Wells

The Phoenix Suns have done everything possible in an attempt to find a trade partner for Bradley Beal prior to Thursday's 3 p.m. ET deadline.

On Wednesday's episode of Get Up, ESPN's Brian Windhorst explained the Suns have "tried almost every team" in the NBA to see if they could find a deal that would allow them to move Beal and acquire Jimmy Butler:

"The Suns have been trying for weeks to turn Bradley Beal into Jimmy Butler. To pair him with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. That is what the Suns have wanted, that is what Jimmy Butler has wanted. That is not what Brad Beal wants, and he has no trade clause, and they have reached a loggerheads. They have tried almost every team in the league from what I can understand. They went out and traded their one first round pick into three to try to pay off three different teams to do deals. I can't tell you how many things I've been through on calls listening to stuff, how they've tried. They are at the end here. The deadline is here, they have no Brad Beal trade, they are 25 and 24, they have a very aggressive owner, okay? And so now they are examining, this team isn't working, we can't trade Beal, what are we gonna do? Durant has one year on his contract. So they have now begun entertaining, should we trade Kevin Durant? And they have begun those discussions across the league."

The Suns seem to be in an impossible situation with Beal. There are very few teams in the league that seem interested in taking on his contract, and even when one comes along that does, he has the ability to decide if he wants to play for them.

For example, The Athletic's Fred Katz reported last week Beal would not waive his no-trade clause to join the Chicago Bulls.

Katz added the only teams Beal would consider accepting a deal to would be one that gives him the ability to win, but there are certain teams based in cold-weather cities that are "less attractive to him."

It's unclear who the teams that Beal would waive his no-trade clause for are. The Miami Heat have frequently come up because Jimmy Butler seems to be solely focused on ending up in Phoenix, but the Heat don't want to take on any long-term money to keep their books open for 2026 when the potential free-agent class looks very strong.

Beal has one more guaranteed year remaining on his contract plus a $57.1 million player option for 2026-27. There's always the possibility he decides to turn that down in favor of a multiyear contract for more total money and a smaller average salary, but why would the Heat want to take that risk?

Given the amount of control Beal has in this entire situation with the Suns, it's not a surprise that Kevin Durant's name has started to pop up in trade rumors because they don't have another path to try improving a roster that has been around the .500 mark for most of this season.

There's still a little bit of time left for Suns general manager James Jones to find a solution to this whole thing before the trade deadline, but they have to act quickly to make it happen.

Beal has been a useful contributor in Phoenix this season. He's averaging 17.1 points on 49.2 percent shooting, 3.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in 36 appearances.

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