The Bradley Beal Era Is OVER For the Phoenix Suns, What Comes Next?

The Bradley Beal Era Is OVER For the Phoenix Suns, What Comes Next?

Today on Locked on Phoenix Suns, Bradley Beal finally gone, waved, soon to be stretched, and the era is over. Final thoughts on the Sun’s decision with Beal and a look ahead to what comes next. Let’s go. You are Locked On Suns, your daily Phoenix Suns podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome back in to Locked on Phoenix Suns. I’m Brendan Clean, a staff writer at AFLA announcing and a credentialed Suns Media member. Thank you for making Locked Ons your first listen here on this Thursday. Don’t forget Locked On Suns free and available on all platforms including YouTube. Just click that follow or subscribe button. do what thousands of other Suns fans have already done. Become an everyday and get locked on to the Phoenix Suns right here each and every day. Today’s episode brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances today with MonarchMoney. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. We will hit on all of the angles of the Bradley Beal departure, plus thoughts from Wednesday’s summer league game where everybody played and I was not expecting that at all. So, a lot to get to there, but joining me to break it all down as always from the Wild West Valley, my fellow Suns Credential media member, how we feeling, Ben Garcia. God, the divorce that took forever to get done is finally finalized. Be uh it feels like the one that took the bigger hit in the divorce, right? Because he gave up however many million, but I guess the Suns will be giving up 20 plus million over the next couple years as well. So, uh see you Brad. Sorry it couldn’t work out better than we all thought it. So ultimately Beal gives up 13.86 I think is the exact number million Ben to make this possible. We’ve gone over it before because of the Ela EJ Liddell and Nir Little wave and stretches that the Suns previously did to make some other moves happen. They had a limit to how much dead money from Beiel’s contract that they were legally allowed to have on their books. He had to give some money back in order to make it all work out. And he gets a contract from the Clippers, which is his the destination that had been in the rumor mill for a while now. Only the mid basically the taxpayer mid-level or so. I mean, I don’t think that’s actually what it is cuz I’m not even sure if they’re a tax team, but $5 millionish dollars, two-year deal with the player option on that second season. Um, let’s just start with the that little part of the news and then zoom out, I think. Is it crazy that I was a little bit surprised that that’s all he could get on his on this contract? Well, no, man. I and this is the thing that I kept on fighting with some other people about like oh he could get out and go get the full mid-level exception for multiple years. Bradley Beal statistically, right? Uh, good basketball player. If I’m not mistaken, like almost had a 50, 40, 90 season. Again, didn’t play a ton of games, but that’s my point, right? Bradley Beal is a good player to have, but he kind of is what he is. He’s a microwave scorer. We’re not sure if that’s on the bench or in the starting lineup. And that right there is a problem in itself. like how much of an issue is this going to be if you’re going to invest as much money as you are with a mid-level exception potentially over multiple years. Is he a starter? Are you going to get stuck with them? Is that going to look like a bad contract a couple years from now? But it’s the bigger thing. It’s like yes, Bradley Beal is a fine player when he plays. Not a good defender. Uh and there’s just like not a lot of places where that would work. The Bucks they I feel like they already went this route with Dame Lillard. Now, maybe they wanted to go down it again differently, but like that doesn’t seem like it works. The Lakers, we saw that kind of floated out there. You’re going to throw him out there with Luca, LeBron, and Aton defensively. Like that’s as bad as the Suns would have been defensively. So, the Clippers made the most sense. And I think at that point, it’s supply and demand. Yeah, I I the health is definitely the reason that he probably got the deal that he did. I just thought, you know, fuller clo closer to the full mid-level for one season was kind of where I expected it to go, but uh ultimately he way because he’s Sorry, I was just going to say he hasn’t Yeah, he hasn’t played 60 games in one, two, three, four, five seasons. Yeah. Is he going to get more healthier? It’s always something. No, he’s not. But so, you know, he goes to the Clippers, he gets all of his money anyway, so that contract didn’t really matter in the sake of his his wallet. I just thought it was interesting from the standpoint of his value, but it obviously closes a a chapter for this team. A pretty momentous one and a very disappointing one. We all obviously could admit the trade I supported at the time. I’ve gone over it. You and I both have. I’ve always distinguished it as mistake versus misguided. I think that the Beiel trade was a mistake. I think that the DeAndre trade or I Yeah, I think the DeAndre trade was more misguided. You know, the intent with the be trade made sense. They didn’t ultimately give up a huge amount even though it was maybe more than people even expected Washington to get. And then once you just saw it on the court, it never worked out. What What are your thoughts as we say goodbye to this kind of big three era and the Beal era here in the Valley? Yeah, I’ll tell you what, man. Uh I think the way you put it was really good cuz you mentioned at the beginning I was for this and so was I. I thought it was a slam dunk. Shamut, Chris Paul, bunch of first round pick swaps that will likely never get exercised. Uh, and a bunch of second round picks that like are currency in the NBA, but we saw the Suns just get five back in a KD deal along with players. Those can be had. What pisses me off is when people go after the Suns for doing this deal, when they themselves wanted this deal done as well. And there’s multiple accounts that I’ve looked up just Bradley be on their account and went through the archives and like, “Oh, you were actually for this trade, too. you loved this trade until it didn’t work out for you. So, it was a mistake at the end of the day and and I could say that too, although I was for it. In hindsight, it’s 2020. Probably a little too much redundancy in the offense. Shouldn’t have looked over the fact that he doesn’t play a lot of games, but I’m not going to condemn the Suns on this fact alone for trying, especially at the time with what they gave up for Beal. Didn’t feel like a lot. And that Sun’s team, everyone forgets, man. Chris Paul felt like at that point, plays a little slower, feels like he started to wear out his welcome. Everyone hated Landry Sham and he gave up some picks that yeah, man, it sucks. But I appreciate the swing, but at the end of the day, it didn’t work out. I just wish more people would say that. I was for it. It didn’t work out. It was a bad move. And I I don’t think a lot of people are being honest with the Bradley Beiel saga. Fair enough. He’s gone no matter what any of us say at this point. I think that the part of it that I will say was misguided that that in hindsight probably was one of the reasons that it not probably it was one of the reasons that it failed is not negotiating the no trade clause out of his contract upon his arrival here. That would have been it was just overlooked at the time because you just assume it’s going to hey, he’s just going to play. Why would you want to think about flipping a player the day you’re getting him? It just wasn’t part of the conversation. But given the relationship between the Suns front office and his agent, which is well documented with Josh Bartlestein working here, and the fact that, you know, he the Suns were on his short list of teams, obviously he waved the no trade clause to come here in the first place, all that sort of stuff. I think the Sun should have pushed harder for that and and envision the fact that, hey, KD’s pretty old. We have a small window here. Brad’s contract’s really long. We might need to get out of this sooner than we realize and have give themselves more outs than they did. That was certainly a mistake. Um, but yeah, look, I I think the the the final like summation of what I would say on this is I think that Beal, you can’t separate the injuries from the performance on the court because the deterioration of his body is what led to him not being able to be the player stylistically that the Suns needed him to be to fit with Devin Booker, to fit with Kevin Durant. Grant, he he just lost the ability to drive and finish. He wasn’t able to consistently defend, especially bigger players, which he needed to do in a, you know, three guard lineup a lot of the time with Grayson Allen out there, too. Things like that that just they never were there because physically he couldn’t or didn’t feel comfortable trying to do it. And that is the part of it where in hindsight it’s like that that we could have seen that coming. And and that’s maybe the biggest bummer of it. Do you think the Suns are going to regret stretching and waving Bradley Beiel? Yeah. Well, that’s the other part. I mean, I What do you What do you think? Because I think you switched over to the side of not wanting this to happen a little quicker than I did as the off season progressed. So, I feel like you’re probably more negative on this being the final call on their part than I might be. Well, let’s see here. Here are the positives to moving off of Beal. there’s a very good chance that maybe he was just a cancer in the locker room and you know didn’t get along with players or didn’t get along with staff and like that’s just a bad thing to have like ultimately it feels like they were done with the Bradley Bill experience. So I get it from that aspect and you don’t have to struggle with the fact of like you’re either sending him home or you’re sending to the bench. So like those things are good and there are I’m not going to act like there are no positives to sending Bradley Beal uh to it uh out of here. I just think it outweighs the negatives. Man, you’re talking about $20 million, $19.6 million, whatever a year until I’m 32 years old and I’m 27 now. Like hopefully I have multiple kids at that point to where we’re still talking about paying off Bradley Beal. And I what’s going to be frustrating, man, in two years from now, you and I are going to talk about some player being available. We’re going to be like, “Ah, man. Wish we could get that guy, but we’re paying Bradley Beal $20 million.” I I just don’t if I was for this if there was a corresponding move that made sense for the Suns even at least this year. But I I I don’t think it’s like a death note, right? I just think it’s making something that was a big problem for the next two years a slight a slight to medium-sized issue over the next couple years. That’s where I’m at. I’m not making it a death note. I just don’t get it completely. you. I’ll let you know what I think on the other side of the break and we can kick off what we think is going to come next because I think those things are connected. Like you said, the other shoe has not dropped after this decision for the Suns. And it there may not be another shoe to drop. It may be a little bit of a longer term outlook. So, we’ll get into what that could look like next. First, today’s show is brought to you by Open Phone. If you’re running a business, you know every mis call is money left on the table. Think about the last time you had an urgent need, maybe for a plumber or a service provider. If the first person didn’t answer, did you wait? Probably not. You moved on and that’s why you need Open Phone. Open Phone is the number one business phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or computer. Uh, I had to pay my old apartment company way more money than I should have. Story for a different day. However, getting a hold of somebody, their phone line straight up went to busy. If there wasn’t somebody to pick up the call or there were they were closed. There was no answering machine. There was no wait or hold line or waiting list or anything. It was just dead air. Open phone would have solved that. They probably should sign up for that. So, at least I’m not angry at them while I’m paying them way too much money. But if you’re a business owner, you know, hey, we’re not going to do the angry part. But we can take care of our customers with Open Phone. So, our listeners can get 20% off your first six months at openphone.com/lockdonba. That’s op.com/lockonba. And if you have existing numbers with a different service, Open Phone will port those over at no extra charge. Open phone. No missed calls, no missed customers. All right, Ben, let’s keep it rolling. So, you asked me right before the break what I think um about their decision ultimately to go this direction and wave and stretch Beiel instead of keeping him for one more season, two more seasons, whatever it could have looked like. I think that this is an example of the chickens coming home to roost, right? Like you can kick the can down the road to do a bunch of metaphors alto together for so long, all the times over the past couple years, two, you know, three off seasons, two and a half years under Matt Ishbia where we’ve said, “Ah, that was a little risky. It was a little allin, but hey, I appreciate the aggressiveness and if it pays off, we’re not going to care. You do that for long enough and you don’t win games and you end up being presented with a bunch of not great options and you have to pick one of them. Obviously, there’s an argument to the fact of saying, “Well, they didn’t need to get under the second apron at all. This is a lost season. Why panic and do anything?” But we know all the reasons why because it’s harder to build the the next great Suns team with all those limitations. Matt Ishbia’s luxury tax bill is getting multiplied and multiplied and multiplied every single season and going under the tax resets all of that. So it helps to be ready to spend again when it’s time to be another great Suns team. Um all of those things and the draft picks that get frozen and all that stuff. So, if the Suns felt like part of resetting this roster post big three era was needing to get that financial relief, they had to pick the best of bad options. And that’s what this was. And I can’t necessarily hate that, but it’s also not going to be the last one, I think, is what we also need to be ready for. Grayson Allen trade, Royce O’Neal trade, um, you know, drafting after Devin Booker’s prime, or if, heaven forbid, he’s ever off the team. There’s going to be a lot more of the paying back for all the stuff you did that was aggressive and win now. And I think this was again the first one of those. That’s interesting, man. So, do you think this ch do you think that those changes that you’re saying because we kind of talked this pre-show and you kind of told me like, oh, nothing really changed for me right now, but you mentioned like Grace Now and Roy O’Neal. Do you think potentially we might see guys like that move this year or are you talking more down the line? This was the big hurdle and we did it this year instead of next year. No, I’m just bringing those guys up as people we know aren’t going to be on the team five years from now. I’m not saying and yeah, we just know that they’re going to probably be traded in some way, shape, or form. Okay. So, I’m just saying you give Grayson Allen four years and $72 million because he has a great season and you’re trying to go all in and you you’re going to lose him for nothing if you don’t give him a new contract and nobody cares. But then all of a sudden, you’re trying to canvas the trademark for Grayson Allen deals and you go, “Hold on, no one wants him.” M that’s what I’m saying. I’m just giving it as another example of there’s a lot of stuff the Suns did when they were in win now mode that all of a sudden now in reset mode is a little bit of a tougher pill to swallow and this be one is obviously the biggest example. Okay, so we’re in reset mode. So does that mean is that it does change a little bit for me? I was expecting to some degree whatever that may be, right? Sham Shirania tweets out Bradley Beiel’s being bought out by the Phoenix Suns. He’s going over to the Clippers. The Suns are also making a corresponding move by adding Grayson and Nick Richards for LA player to help this year and then potentially in the future. That’s not the case. So, I think what leads me to this is I think the Suns are prepping themselves for something to come next year and that they are planning and they have the AOK from Devin Booker that maybe this is more of a transition year than we thought. Maybe this isn’t as much of a show Devin Booker you’re competent or you lose him next year, but they’re actually for the first time playing the long game. That’s actually where I’m starting to trend towards now for Yeah. I mean, it’s it’s being able to play any game. They they they couldn’t do anything. They couldn’t do anything. So, if they get to a situation where they need to, for instance, shed more salary for whatever reason, if they need to, you know, clear up a roster spot, like just, hey, Grayson just he they just not a fit here, they can make more types of trades to do that. if they want to go out and try to get a mid-level type role player that they find interesting, who’s going to help them get back to relevance, they can actually get that player. If they want to trade a draft pick next summer for a superstar, they can actually do that. Like, they just couldn’t do anything and now they can do all the things like that. I think it’s just that simple. Um, you know, I I think as far as like in the short term though, I I don’t think there’s going to be anything else is my view of it. I mean, they’ll figure out whatever the last player for this team roster spot-wise is going to be. They have the regular old um non- taxpayer mid-level to use if they want it, but I don’t think that they will because they would go into the f over the first apron if they did. Um, and no one’s really out there that I think is even close to being worth that. And so I think it’s just about Yeah. call it the long game. That’s probably a good way to put it. It’s just all cards are back on the table. Yeah. Okay. So, I’m I’m good that you kind of steered it back to that direction because I I do want to say this and it does lead me to believe this. Um, you mentioned this a couple weeks ago, but I just want to bring back up the idea. So, I don’t want to make it like it’s my original thought, but I think the Suns are still going to go big fish hunting. I just think it’s next season. I don’t think that it’s nothing. I’m not saying Luca Donic is going to come here, but I don’t think it’s nothing that Luca still hasn’t signed that long-term extension with the Lakers or Trey Young still hasn’t gotten his extension from the Hawks, whatever it looks like next year, right? I think that maybe the NBA landscape is changing a little bit to where teams like players aren’t necessarily interested in the super max right now, whereas like they could wait another year, join a different team, get qualified for it, and get the super max from them later on. I I’m just I do think the Suns are looking at free agency next year and trying to lure a big star here. I think it is. And I think you are looking at the Trey Young’s, the Lucas, like one of those big guys. I don’t know, man. That’s that’s crazy. But like maybe Giannis becomes available. I don’t know how the Suns would do that. Jaylen Green have to have an insane year to make it happen. You’d have to have access to your picks. But yeah, they’re still they’re still really behind on any types of packages like that. But they again, at least they can be in the running for anything like that rather than begging Bradley Beal to wave his no trade clause, begging teams to take on, you know, Nerkage to make it possible or split up their pick three ways. Just all the nonsense that they’ve had to pull and they didn’t even get Jimmy Butler for all of that, you know, like at least this this time it’s just they’re gonna be a normal team again. I I just think it’s pretty clear the Suns are turning their attention to free agency next year, which is seen as a very big free agency class. Maybe they don’t get one of the big stars. Maybe they get someone a little bit lower that they think can pan out to be more. Well, just to clarify, they’re not going to have cap space unless they do a whole lot more, but they’ll at least you have flexibility signing trades. They can do whatever. There you go. That’s my point is I’m not saying that they can outright Thank you for saying that. People in the comment section are going to eat me alive. They cannot outright sign those people, but they have flexibility to do those things now. Combine contracts, move someone here. Maybe Jay Green has a good year and you could package him with someone else in a signin trade or whatever. Whatever it looks like. I just think that the Suns are turning their attention to that because a big trade doesn’t really seem feasible even next year because you just don’t have access to your picks like that. So, uh, and because of Gambo keeps on shooting down guys. No to Ben Simmons, no to Brockton, no to whatever. And it’s like, okay, it’s pretty clear they’re bringing in some third string guy. Maybe it’s Monte Morris to help with the duties because it seems like they’re turning their attention to next year. And they have a verbal commitment from Booker like, I won’t demand a trade next year. Let’s just make this a transition year and next year maybe we can lure a big fish and then we’ll figure it out. I think that’s the plan. I don’t think it’s something else in the short term for now. Yeah. One other quick thing to just specify is they did not unfreeze their draft pick uh for 203 no two by doing or yeah 2032 by doing this be under it for three years. Yeah. Three out of the next four seasons they have to be under the second apron in order for that to be part come back to them and not be sent to the back of the first round and everything which as far as things look right now they’re way in the clear of having that happen. I also am not fully uh on board like with what you said of that they have an official comment from Devin Booker, but I don’t think they’re wrong to just operate like he’s going to be here for the long haul because he’s never said anything contrary. So, also he can’t just leave anymore. You got him for multiple years. Well, yeah. I mean, he already had what, two years, three, and now he has I think it would I think like any Devin Booker trade, I don’t mean to make it a Deon Booker thing, but any Devin Booker trade, I don’t think like if Booker wanted out next year and the Suns didn’t want to move him, I don’t think Booker would ever make it so ugly here because he has such a good will with the fan base that he would just tarnish all that. But it would have to be it’d have to be together. And I just think that maybe they’re operating off of that. But yeah, and I don’t think Ishb is the type of person to to ever be complacent. So, it’s not like they’re just going to say, “All right, book. We got booked forever. No big deal. Keep going. Business as usual.” He’s going to push. And I think as long as the moves generally point in the right direction and things are trending upward, there’s no reason to think Book won’t be along for that ride. But, um, they just have a lot of these things still do have to work. like we like the idea of them, but these players have to hit and the identity has to look right and au has to be a good hire and all those sorts of things, but um the be move is one last bow tied on top of this off season that I think a lot of Suns fans are feeling very good about. Those players did play Wednesday. We saw them one more time at Summer League against the Minnesota Timberwolves Las Vegas squad and it was another one with a lot of lessons for all those young players. So, we’ll dive into those next. First, today’s show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Do you ever wish managing your money felt easier? Well, with Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. 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All right, let’s close it out with some summer league thoughts. Ben, we’ve got uh the final correct summer league game for the Phoenix Suns. 8985 loss, but obviously who cares about the result of the game. Everybody played um Rashier Fleming was backled. No, Kobe Brea was the one. He has a sprained left thumb. Shouldn’t be anything too serious, but Malawatch, Oso, Dunn, and Fleming all played. As far as the main guys are concerned, what was your biggest takeaway from the game, Ben? I was muted there. My biggest takeaway is Oso Egodaro continues to look pretty good and more confident, especially getting to the rim. You know, the other day you asked me like, “What do you mean by he’s more athletic and why he he he seems more athletic?” Not that he just grew up and figured it out, but like more confident getting to the rim. And I think ultimately if Oso is going to be a contributor to this team, especially offensively, it’s going to happen in the paint. It’s going to be doing the nitty-gritty stuff. It’s going to be getting offensive rebounds, being the hustle guy. So, he continues to open his eyes. He continues to open my eyes to me of him being a solid player offensively that can make a living down low, grab an offensive board, put it back in as well as get to the rim and that makes things a little bit more interesting with Kaman Malawatch. Maybe granted he hasn’t been a great three-point shooter, but he hit two of them today. Maybe there’s this idea to space it out a little bit and have OSO play a little bit more. That was my biggest takeaway. What about you? Weird that OSO was three of 10 from the free throw line. That was a little little scary. Um and and done one of four. Um you know that that needs to keep going. They missed a lot of free throws together as a team. Yeah, they were below 50%. Because Malawatch was two of six. Um yeah, I think my big takeaway like just continuing to get my arms and and mind around what Malawatch is gonna be, right? I think that with him I kept kind of wondering today because all but one of his field goal attempts were threes. I I felt I came away feeling like I would have liked to see him Yeah. around the basket more. like it was it went from wow that he could shoot like on literally less than a week ago to today I was like okay well summer league’s over and I feel like he didn’t get a lot of reps doing the actual main thing that a big man does. So I wonder if that’s because they’re nervous about the turnovers and you know summer league’s just kind of a crappy environment and they didn’t have a great point guard to run things or they just it just kind of the way the cookie crumbled. Maybe it wasn’t intentional at all. I’m not sure how how why it played out that way. Maybe he’s just a little nervous about, you know, NBA physicality and athleticism. Not nervous, like scared, but just nervous like feeling it out. I don’t know. But I I like I probably half or more of his shots in Vegas were threes. And I don’t think that’s going to be what it’s like in the NBA for him. Or at least I don’t think it should be. So, I I I don’t know what to think of this this performance overall for him at summer league. Well, one of the things that you had mentioned is is the fact that he didn’t really live around the rim. I don’t think he caught one lob. I don’t think he caught one singular lob all uh uh summer league because they had one thrown to him late in this game. And I thought about it right away and I was like, “Wait a second. This guy wasn’t used as a lob threat once and that’s what like I talked about with him coming out of Duke is the fact that he’s going to be able to catch lobs from Devin Booker like show off some of that athleticism. I I’m leaning into it more of like the Suns have a plan to use him potentially and they had a plan with Yousef Nerkage to use him as a stretch five that didn’t work out but the same kind of plan with Nerkage that they have with Malawatch. I think that maybe they want to see early in the season if this can work. They feel comfortable with him down low. Footwork kind of the Hakee shot over players almost like a hook shot actually shot over players and try to do that. Kareem Hakee Kareem. Uh the Kareem hook shot. I didn’t see a dream shake from common malawatch. That’s the that if he was busting those out, I’d be I’d be thinking there’s an MVP. Well, that was the thing is we didn’t see a lot of that. So, I wonder if they feel so confident with him down low banging bodies that they were like, “Hey, man, just shoot a bunch of threes.” Like, we want to see what we got from you here. And like, confident about that because Duke was used at Duke really like posted up. Yeah. No, I don’t think you’re saying that, but I I’m just, you know, playing out the possibility that that was their mindset on him this this summer, and I I just don’t think that’s that’s accurate. I I probably the most likely or I don’t think that that’s smart, I guess, but like I think probably the the most likely answer for it on on the Malawatch side is it probably was him. You know, I think it’s not like he wasn’t around the basket. He just didn’t really take shots there. I do think that the turnovers catching the ball, gathering himself, and finishing, that’s going to be a work in progress. that was a a a weakness of his with the Blue Devils and no one really posts up in 2025 unless you’re elite at it. So, I don’t know how much that’s really going to be a thing unless there’s a switch or a transition opportunity. Some of the easy ones where you just say, “Okay, that dude’s 72. Let’s just make the right play here.” But I I don’t think it’s crazy to say that there’s not a part of his interior game that you necessarily love right now. But I also just I mean Miles Turner, Joel Embiid, even guys who can shoot threes that are his height didn’t come into the league bombing like that. That’s a that’s a risky player development strategy to go outside in with a behemoth of a center. That that I don’t know if I love that if that’s where this is going. Okay, I I agree. I just so we’re clear. I agree with you in all that in all that sense. However, those players didn’t come into the NBA that was bombs away shooting threes. it was starting to take shape. That 2016, 2017, 2018 Warriors was starting to take shape, but it didn’t really get into its full final form until like I would say like the 2019, 2020 years. And so Malawatch is coming into the fully form. We’re going to chuck in a bunch of threes and maybe that’s what would have happened with those two guys. However, I example would be WBY, right? WBY did come into the NBA shooting threes because he is still in a league where that was more valuable and more prioritized. What I what uh I would say is yeah I would agree with you with all that. Um I don’t think it’s a great plan because he’s 18 because he hasn’t been playing for that long. However, that’s what I think that the Suns are doing. I think they want to see if there’s any world where he could be the stretch five because all you and I have talked about at Nauseium before the draft was they want to add a stretch five. They want to add a stretch five. They want to add a stretch five. Well, Gamble says they’re going to add a guard with that final roster spot spot. It leads me to believe that they think this guy could be a stretch five. I don’t love that because he’s 7 foot2. It’s like what’s the hurry though? That’s that’s the part of it. What do you feel like you need it? Like it’s not a necessity. It’s a it’s a necessity to have if you’re trying to win a championship. Al Horford, uh Kristoff, not if you’re just in year one of a of a reset. No, with an 18year-old, it feels like the And so you use the right words. What’s the rush? I don’t know what it is, man. I don’t really understand it. Uh but maybe I Which is why I brought up it might not be the team. It might be Malawatch. And if that’s the case, then I want I actually like I’m actually worried his earwatch. You need to get his ear and say like that’s not how you’re going to play. You know, if it’s Malawatch, that actually worries me. I don’t think it is. I don’t think a big man who didn’t shoot six threes a night with Duke would come in and start shooting six threes a night in the NBA. I I I can’t buy that. But if it is, that’s worrisome because that means that’s a player that’s timid and doesn’t think they could bang bodies down low and get buckets. That is worrisome. Or again, the last the last possibility just talking it out is they had pretty crappy playmaking point guards because it’s summer league and those guys don’t exactly they’re not exactly a dime a dozen to just say, “Hey, we’ll just get our version of John Morant to come out there and play with our summer guys.” Like, that’s not a thing. So, you got to just make the best of what you have. and if he didn’t necessarily have the chemistry and the comfort and he missed a game and I’m not going to not going to be working out the kinks of the technicalities of the pick and roll with Boogie Ellis cuz yeah that’s not useful. I guess I could understand that too and and those guys, you know, they’re not elite elite passers to set him up and put him in position even though Collins had nine assists today and and they played decently. The only the only rebuttal I have for that and I know this isn’t you making this case. This is me saying um 95% of the summer league doesn’t have a quality guard that they feel like they can get their the ball to the bigs where they want it to happen. So like it’s not really an excuse, but I get it being an excuse. Like you do need to kind of adapt on the fly a little bit. You’re the tender. On the other side, Baron Jay did the same thing. Two of seven. I mean, he’s not bombing threes, but he’s kind of sucked. Like all you’re looking for is like the little spurts. Like bigs just don’t play well in this environment. WBY was bad. It’s just tough. Are you uh Well, that is true. Um Cooper Flag 69 looked bad in his first game until they put the ball in his hands and he did every Actually, he only looked bad. Point guard. Yeah, he only looked bad scoring the basketball. Uh until he became the point guard in that second game and they gave him the ball and gave him the keys to do everything. He looked pretty good. Oh, you’re not going to do that. Ma watch. But like again, not panicking. Let’s wait and see what happens. I think especially if the dude isn’t playing in uh or we’ll see how he plays in preseason, but I think it’s more so like we’ll see if the dude is playing come opening night, but for now, whatever. I think the bigger cons the the uh bigger concerns was the fact that Ryan Dunn, I thought for a second, shattered his knee out there. Uh went Bradley Beal style, faked an injury. Well, he didn’t fake it, but he made it seem like it was worse than it was, and then they put him back out there. What the hell was that? So, D. Yeah, I don’t know what that was. It was not necessary. But Don Don also like how many times did that happen last year where his ankle would look like it was ripped to shreds and then he’s he he pops up or he misses the rest of one game and then he’s starting again next night. It It’s I thought his knee is I actually was super worried cuz it was one of those things where he came down on his on his foot. I’m sorry. He just came down with two feet and like he immediately goes to the ground. I’m like, “Oh god, no. That’s an ACL.” like that’s an ACL or an MCL. That’s what I thought too, unfortunately. I don’t want It was neither thing. He he waved him off and then they said get off and then I guess he was fine. Then he continued playing for some godforsaken reason. Stretching bands when they cut to him on the sideline. Apparently that’s all he needed, which is good. Thank God. Well, I all I will say is um maybe the Suns are smart to add a guard with that final roster spot based on the need that all these young dudes had for a competent point guard here in Summer League and the fact of Yuri. All right, Jaylen Gray and Deon Booker can only do so much when ne when none of those guys are like pure point guards either. That’ll wrap us up. Hit follow, hit subscribe if you haven’t already. be coming every day. We got one more show for you tomorrow with some news that we need to catch up on. Enjoy your Thursday. We’ll catch you tomorrow.

The Phoenix Suns waived Bradley Beal on Wednesday, two years after they went all-in to trade for him.

Brendon Kleen and Ben Garcia dissect the Suns’ big move and Beal’s departure, as well as what will come next after the move. Then, a look at Oso Ighodaro, Khaman Maluach and Ryan Dunn in the Suns’ final NBA Summer League game.

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