The Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards pulled off a blockbuster deal on Sunday, as the Wizards sent star guard Bradley Beal to Phoenix in exchange for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, multiple second-round picks and multiple pick swaps. The deal should help Phoenix on its quest to land the first title in franchise history, while the Wizards will now press the restart button after moving on from the Beal era.
Here’s a look at some of the winners and losers of the deal.
Winner: Bradley Beal
After spending the entirety of his career to this point in Washington on a Wizards team that was never able to advance past the second round and was never really a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference, Beal should now get an opportunity to truly compete on a team with legitimate championship aspirations. Legacies are cemented in the postseason, but Beal has appeared in just 11 total playoff games since 2017. On a Suns squad alongside Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, he should get more of an opportunity to showcase his game on a bigger stage.
Losers: Wizards
It’s tough to feel too good about this deal if you’re a Wizards fan, and the team’s front office probably shouldn’t feel great about it either. The team basically lost Beal — a multiple-time All-Star and the team’s best player in recent memory — for pennies on the dollar. They didn’t accept any star-level players or young guys with high upside in return for Beal. They didn’t get a single first round pick for him either. There were plenty of reasons for teams to be hesitant about trading too much for Beal, but he still should have commanded a higher return, especially when you consider what some other star players have been trading for recently. The one silver lining for Wizards fans is that the organization was able to clear Beal’s massive deal from the books, so maybe that means the team will finally undergo a full, proper rebuild.
Winner: Suns
Considering what they had to give up to land a three-time All-Star in Beal, the Suns are definitely winners in this deal. They landed one of the better scorers in the entire league for ancillary parts, and they now have arguably the top trio in the NBA. There are certainly some concerns for Phoenix moving forward now — namely their lack of depth and salary cap limitations — but this is a move you make every time if you’re the Suns.
Loser: Phoenix’s depth
As mentioned above, the Suns now boast one of the most talented trios in the entire league in Booker, Durant and Beal. But the problem for Phoenix is what the roster looks like after that. Depth, or lack thereof, was a major issue for Phoenix in the postseason this year, and this deal only made them thinner. As it stands now, the Suns have a total of just five players under contract for next season: Beal, Booker, Durant, Deandre Ayton and Cameron Payne, and they don’t have much salary cap space to build out the rest of the roster . Star power is important, but it’s tough to make much real noise in the postseason without a well-balanced roster. The Suns still have a lot of work in that department.
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Winner: Frank Vogel
Assuming Phoenix’s front office is able to build the rest of the roster out in a reasonable manner, then Frank Vogel is a winner here. Entering his first season as the coach in Phoenix, Vogel will now have three star-level players still in their primes to work with. Top-tier talent tends to make a coach’s job easier, and Vogel should benefit from the talent on the team.
Losers: Chris Paul
Paul recently stated that he wanted to remain in Phoenix. “I don’t want to be anywhere else,” he said. “You’ve never heard me come in and say I don’t want to be here. You know what I mean. But I understand the business of this league, the dynamics or what not. So we’ll see.”
He didn’t get his wish in that regard, and by being traded away from Phoenix, he might have missed his last best chance to win a title before he calls it a career. Paul might get rerouted from Washington to the LA Clippersand that could potentially provide him with another shot at a ring, but until that happens, Paul definitely isn’t in a better spot than he was prior to the deal.
The Heat have long been mentioned as a potential landing spot for Beal in a trade, and as a place he would like to play. After losing to the Nuggets in five games in the NBA Finals, Beal could have potentially been the piece to push the Heat over the top, but now that he’s headed to Phoenix, the Heat will have to go in a different direction. Following the Beal trade, the Heat are now reportedly focused on landing Dame Lillard from Portland.
