Phoenix Suns STUCK With Bradley Beal? Chris Paul BACK To the Valley? And More Free Agency Thoughts

Phoenix Suns STUCK With Bradley Beal? Chris Paul BACK To the Valley? And More Free Agency Thoughts

today on Locked on Phoenix Suns free agency apparently starts Monday but it feels like it’s already getting started we’ll bring you the latest from the Suns and what to watch for Monday starting with Bradley Beal 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 a announcing and a credentialed Suns media member thank you for making Locked on Suns your first listen to kick off free agency Monday 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 or get locked on to the Phoenix Suns right here each and every day we’ve got a lot to get to bradley Beal Nick Richards Chris Paul yes that’s right you heard me today’s show brought to you by FanDuel right now new customers can bet 150 bucks and get 150 bucks in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins joining me for this free agency preview slash we’re already reviewing some things as always from the Wild West Valley my fellow Suns Credential media member how are we feeling Ben Garcia
uh better than I was a week ago remember last time this time a week ago we were talking about that Kevin Durant trade and it felt like it didn’t work out and you know time goes by the Suns it feels like for all extensive purposes ace the draft i’m just really curious where they’re going to go about free agency because as we’ll get into it I think it’s uh a little bit more difficult than I think even Suns fans think it is even though they know they’re a team in the Second Apron we’ll talk about some of the other obstacles but it’s interesting man yeah a lot to get to let’s dive in bradley Beal came up as he has been for weeks if not months on Saturday quite a bit from both Fred Katz at the Athletic who I will remind people covered Beal in Washington for many years and Zack Low over at the Ringer with similar reports basically amounting to how difficult it is going to be to move him now that’s not news but I think that Fred’s report Ben had a lot of you know the from Beal’s perspective that’s helpful to think about here right so he said it’s the same at the as it was at the 2025 deadline according to a league source familiar with Beiel’s thought process Beiel would be open to the right trade that sends him to the right destination but his preference is to remain in Phoenix even if it’s a team that obviously only won 35 games and just lost Kevin Durant it it went on to say that since leaving Washington Beiel’s wife and children lived in LA his first season here and then this year they finally moved to Phoenix playing for another team would make him have to pull his kids out of school for a third straight year
and move his family once again or leave them and go play in a different city potentially for two years because that’s what’s left on his contract so obviously you go on and what we’ve been talking about becomes the focus waving and stretching him buying him out completely etc but the last line that I think is relevant from Fred’s piece here is even if the Suns could find a way to wave and stretch Brad they would need him to give some money back and it isn’t possible without Be giving money back which Fred wrote would be out of character and of course that’s like a polite way of saying and it’s no shade on Brad but he’s never been a dude to give money back he he took he waited until he could get this huge gigantic contract from Washington he not only got it but got the no trade clause and he’s negotiated for every single penny and every single little thing he could throughout his entire NBA career even at times with the Wizards when people wondered why don’t you want to go to a winning team he has just handled his business that way so I think that that’s relevant when we start imagining oh this team would love him on the mid level and this and that Ben because this requires him to play ball just as much frankly as the no trade clause it may it may not be as harsh but he has to participate in the next team he goes to to go find a mid-level exception contract or some new deal that would allow him to take some money off of what the Suns are going to owe him and do the wave and stretch that will work that will work under league rules i think that part gets overlooked a lot is Brad still has to play ball even if they do it that way
because they cannot have a certain amount of dead money exceed per the the aprons and tax and
15% of the cap yeah and they already have Nir Little and EJ Liddell they’ve they’ve done this already so many times that now they’re up against it
yeah who would who is it nir Little EJ Little or EJ Liddell and who’s the other one
that’s it but I don’t remember how much
deal would be such a huge amount that even him by himself gets you almost all the way to that number and then those two guys obviously get you over it
i I I think I mean listen man I don’t have to preach to the choir when it comes to you because you and I have been on the same page to this we just I’m assuming I want to speak for you we see it way more difficult to move Bradley Beal it seems like people are like because it’s the offseason it’s going to be easier i don’t see any reason why it’s going to be easier and I’m not going to fault Beal for doing what a lot of NBA players have done is taken all the money they can unless it’s a Miami like it’s got to be a very desirable location that Beiel can convince it’s not just him man it’s his family that he would need to go somewhere like I don’t see a realm where this happens so when people try to ship him off to the Pelgans or the Bulls and make obscure like oh Billy Donovan and him like they have a connection with Florida I don’t see it man phoenix is a really great place to be wants to raise his kid here his kids here i get it so when I the first thing I remember when I saw that Fred Catz thing was that you had reminded me a couple of months ago that um this is a guy that covered Beal very intently this leads me to believe’s not going anywhere man because this is Beiel’s way of leaking out to the public i really like it here if you want to find me a very desirable location sure but I don’t see the combination of a really great place to be a team that isn’t potentially in the pits
and he doesn’t want to go tank somewhere i mean the Suns aren’t going to be a championship team this year
but they’re not going to be terrible
exactly and so I think that’s why people have
That’s why people have led back to Miami yeah agreed i mean he could I think he could have maybe gone to the Bulls in in January if he wanted to right and and so Zack had this go ahead
continue
i was just going to say and just to just to preface on that like everyone keeps pointing at Miami miami has had a few chances to bring Bradley Beal in and each time they say we’re good
so let’s preface it by saying that Zack Low had this report where he linked the the Heat to Beal duncan Robinson Terry Roier you know I in theory Andrew Wiggins’s contract could be used but I I just don’t think that they’re going to do that he he’s a more valuable position and he makes less total money and I think that they could probably use him in a different type of trade so to me it was going to have to be Duncan Robinson and Terry Roier i do think Miami is a team that checks some of those boxes where they are still apparently trying to win you know they have hero and BAM they’re not going to be terrible and it’s a good weather city it’s a desirable market and all those types of things um but then right as we were about to start recording and talking about this Duncan Robinson opts out Ben and so that happened Sunday midday and that makes it a lot more complicated because now it would have to be some kind of signing trade or something like that and then at that point it’s like well Miami would have had the impetus to trade him if he opted in in my opinion because they don’t want to have to have him on the team but why would they choose to work with him on a sign-in trade and then still have pressure to get off of his money when they’re the ones who would have to be giving him that money again in order to do a sign like it doesn’t really math out to me anymore and so I don’t see it i I don’t see a place for it and so you know we’re on the same page i think you mentioned that too we’ve been on the same page for a while i I would say we have people locally like Gambo who continue to say that the Suns are are really dead set on not having him around next season i don’t know what that how desperate they’d be trying to get or that would they would they send him home for the year and say we’ll buy you out next summer would the union be chill with that i mean there’s all sorts of things that get really really ugly if you want to push it but with all of that said what do you think is the best plan that achieves what the Suns want to a degree beal obviously gets final say on any of these pathways and doesn’t burn the whole situation down to such an ugly level what do you think is the best way forward with this situation
i’ve thought about this literally man when I’m trying to fall asleep like what is the best avenue for Bradley Beiel to be shipped off to and I think it’s pretty clear man i don’t think Brad is going to accept a trade anywhere because of the family situation which I do understand that aspect he doesn’t want to pull his kids out of school again he doesn’t want to ask his wife to move potentially cross country again i get all that but I also see the sun side too of like you don’t fit here fans don’t really like you we don’t really like you you don’t do really really well with the media last year i think they’re going to bring him back because they have to now it’s it’s it continues to be very alarming to me man because Gamble continues to say like he continues to say like he’s gone but unless Brad is taking a $30 million pay cut I believe it is uh um $80 million out of that 110 that’s remaining i don’t see Brad as a very charitable dude just to give away money
pay cut right it’s not
No he has to give the money back it would be getting it from his next team and all that i mean yeah that but then it’s like is it exactly perfect does he lose a couple million here and there you know that that’s where the idea of like Fred Cat saying like out of character comes in like he I know it always seems oh he’s giving it back he’s getting the same amount but he just has to cooperate and potentially take a little bit of a haircut but he’s not losing 30 he’d maybe be losing two five six whatever potentially we’ll That’s But that’s also We don’t know it’s all hypothetical
it’s all hypothetical because we don’t know if he’s a mid-level exemption player we don’t know if he’s a vet minimum guy also would he
if he’s a vet minimum it doesn’t work he can’t basically do it
so if he if Yeah
has to be at least the mid level is what we’re talking about at least that over multiple seasons and then you don’t even get into the fact of like well which team’s going to actually give that to him so yeah
so that was one of that before but what do you think is how do how do they go forward
i think he’s sticking it around man i think he I think they’re going to have to keep him around i don’t think it it is any use not that I want him here I don’t think it is any use to anyone to piss off Bradley Beal any further make that relationship more toxic than it is try to find a role from him bring him off the bench play him limited minutes i don’t think there’s a world where you can send him home i agree with you i don’t think the NBA PA is going to like that unless Brad agrees to be sent home but he doesn’t peg me for the guy that doesn’t want to do anything but I think they’re just going to have to bring him off the bench they know he’s someone that’s kind of made of glass so they can’t put him in the starting lineup they can’t continue to change up things because he can’t be healthy i don’t see it man i was looking through it last night as well i don’t see a team that is going to be willing to take Bradley Beyond that isn’t tanking that is a desirable location that he would move his family to that’s my answer to it what about you yeah I mean you look at the other players on the mid-level market and there’s a lot of players that I would at least like equally right and that’s what we talked about before Bruce Brown for instance or D’Angelo Russell guys that at the very least are healthier if not just a more easy fit um and so yeah I I think that what will happen is they will play him as a seventh eighth man this season basically treat him like a treat him like he’s Lou Williams or something treat him like he’s
that type of player and I would even say maybe closer to the end of the season depending on how he plays if the year is trending toward most likely out of the playoffs or something then maybe even send him home a little early just to make sure you know talk to him agree on that maybe around the deadline you just say “Hey we’re buying you out or trading you this summer you know we all know where this is headed how about for our both of our sake you avoid injury take it easy take some time off and we’ll figure it out in the summer but if they can just get through from October to February half the year 55 games whatever then next summer I do think you could flip them for something longer term money that another team wants off of or buy them out yourself or stretch them if you want to whatever it might look like and then you’re off of it but I just don’t think any of the other options are worth the long-term pain when really at this point you’re talking about one more season of dealing with it and they’ve they’ve been able to get enough depth around this now where keeping him isn’t so painful like it would have been
yeah exactly
if they were really thin team and then you’re you’re eating a roster spot that’s hard but now with the way that they’ve handled the draft and everything I think I feel a lot better that they have some other options to give minutes to whether he’s a bit player or whether they do end up kind of sending him home at some point
dude I just don’t get it i don’t understand this infatuation with wanting to send him home so bad or wanting to trade him so badly to the point where you’re giving up draft capital to do so it doesn’t make any sense just let him play off the bench he’s a really expensive insurance uh uh policy where listen guys get injured bradley Beiel is kind of a a nice guy to have off the 87 if Brad doesn’t want to be moved just anywhere then he has to accept that his role is going to change on this team so I don’t really understand
and I think he has to be of course aware of that right i mean it already happened to him this past season exercising and what they need to do in response to that let’s get to our favorite minimum targets the Suns may have the taxpayer mid-level exception maybe some of the guys we bring up could be fit into that if they get it but let’s also cover the roster spots how many people can they actually bring in starting with Chris Paul next first today’s show is brought to you by the FanDuel Sportsbook it’s that time of year summer sports are in full swing whether you’re about baseball under the lights golf on the green or high stakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting and you’re already following the action why not make it a little more thrilling with FanDuel you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach they mentioned golf soccer and baseball i’ve been telling you guys to hammer the W for a while because the favorites are massive most of the time if you happen to listen to this on Sunday you’ve got the uh Seattle Storm minus 250 the Minnesota Links minus4500 i’m not sure if this episode will be out in time for you to do that but put your money down $5 cross your fingers you get that first win and you get $150 in bonus bets so if you’re new to FanDuel open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.com to get started all right Ben let’s keep it rolling here so we’re going to each get to our top minimum players that the Suns could bring back that is going to be their main way of adding new players to the team if they want to do that um but well let’s start with Chris Paul because that’s the news let’s get to it um Mark Stein we’ve we’ve briefly briefly mentioned this i think we had some questions during our live shows after the draft de uh days last week that people were curious about our thoughts on Chris Paul but we haven’t really really gone in depth on it so Mark Stein right before we hit record today said a return to the Phoenix Suns for Chris Paul is emerging as a tangible possibility in NBA free agency he went on to say “League sources tell the Stein Line that a reunion with the Suns is indeed possible if Taius Jones leaves Phoenix in free agency.” What are your thoughts now that it seems to becoming a lot more real that CP could return for what might be his final season
are you asking my thoughts on what I think the Suns are potentially like choosing between whether Taius or Chris Paul or you ask me if I want Chris Paul back you can take the show wherever you’d like it’s it sounds like to me that the Phoenix Suns are interested in Chris Paul if Taius Jones doesn’t return and that’s the way I obviously I didn’t read it you did that’s the way I took that to heart was that the Suns are interested in Chris Paul being here but only if Taius Jones doesn’t want to be back and to be honest with you I I kind of get that if Chris Paul comes back to the Suns it’s not going to be something where I’m moaning and groaning and don’t want Chris Paul here he did a lot of good things here i do think actually in this point of career he could help the Suns i think Taius Jones with the Suns roster last year is not nearly as effective as he is with this roster this year this team has gotten bigger they’ve got more defensive depth they’ve got wing depth i think that makes it easier to hide Taius Jones’s deficiencies especially defensively for him to be able to be a viable player off the bench for the Suns team listen man he’s still 29 years old i thought for the most part offensively he actually played pretty well he shot 41% from three last year
he shot the ball well i would say every other aspect of him on
the floater wasn’t great but also he wasn’t I don’t care about the floater i’m saying the main thing you get Tus Jones on your roster to do is be the lead playmaker for your team i don’t think he really did a fantastic job of doing that now the team was playing like they hated each other and had never met one another for the entire 82 games so I’m not going to put that all on him but
that that was the cell and he didn’t even do that very very
How many times did you and I talk about Taius Jones not being utilized correctly after games why is he even on the floor if he doesn’t have the ball in his hands why is he even Why are we letting him being exposed defensively you and I talked about that at Nauseium i think with this team when you don’t have a Kevin Durant and there’s probably not going to be a ton of Bradley Beal on the floor I think the ball will be in Taius Jones hand more often i think him being able to facilitate a little bit more with this with this team there’s a decent amount of shooters Dylan Brooks Devin Booker Mark Williams maybe not so much but guys that can catch lobs now with Malawak and um and Mark Williams now i think he fits better with this team better than Chris Paul does chris Paul looks like he’s heading towards the end of his career he mentioned we saw that report he wants to play closer home because he’s starting to wind down his career i love Chris Paul i’m not interested in being the place where he goes and retires also he’s 40 and I mean he was fine with the Spurs last year but you can definitely see the difference with Chris Paul with the Warriors and the Spurs than what he was with the Phoenix Suns just a few years ago
he’s 40 i mean
he’s just a different player he’s just a different player
look I think that there’s a chance i mean both of these guys on the whole are probably going to be minus players next season they’re minimum players
probably
they’re not going to be positives
that’s fair and the team’s not trying to win games
i mean they’re trying to win
okay that that wasn’t the right way to phrase it they are trying
They’re trying to win okay let me rephrase they’re trying to win games
they’re not going to win games fair they’re not a team where when you put the roster together you’re trying to think about every little square inch of ground you can get against every opponent every night they’re not the Thunder or the Nuggets or the Cavs or the Celtics before Tatum’s injury so to me what I like about Chris Paul and you actually skipped over the point you made before the show that I thought was
I was going to make I was going to make that point too i was going to make that point too that Tus is going to push the pace for this team that is the fit part that I think is the the best argument to put Taius in this slot over Chris
but what I would say is the effect of putting Chris in the the best argument for that would be
one I think he’s an a better playmaker even at 40 than Tyus is at 29 so the idea of developing Williams and Malawatch would go a long way i also think Chris as an a locker room guy i don’t really feel like we ever heard much about Taius he’s a good dude nice guy very pleasant we all interviewed him he he no issues with him but I don’t get the impression that he’s impacting the interpersonal dynamics of the team at a really high level the way that you know Chris will so that would be another thing I would say and then the last part is I don’t think either guy in my personal opinion should be playing that much because it feels like they’re going to start Jaylen Green at quote unquote the point guard spot whatever the two guards that are going to start are going to be Book and Green and then I think Colin Gillespie should be getting a lot of minutes for this team so what are we really speaking about in terms of role big picture here and to me if I’m saying they’re probably both going to be negative
that’s a good point
um they’re not going to play a ton which one do I want well I want the guy who’s a better veteran presence and I want the guy who has specific ways he’s going to make the young players better rather than just a dude who maybe could make the tempo a little faster maybe is a better shooter or whatever like I just don’t I don’t care about that stuff for a team that’s going to be hey maybe they’re 500 in the best case scenario because of all those things you said that made me more firmer on the point that I’d rather have Tyus than Chris Paul because of and I didn’t mention this and I definitely should have that’s literally the main point I said to you was I go back to that Nugget series in 2023 where Chris Paul got injured in game two cameron Page started game three game four and actually he was really good in game six you just forget about it because he got they got annihilated in that game the Suns need to push the pace way more with Chris Paul loved him here when he was in his prime his ability to get to the uh uh to get to the mid-range and knock it down like it’s an open free throw is great he facilitates really well we we did that enough with Kevin Durant Chris Paul over the years of playing really slow having someone come in similar to a campaign type or maybe even Tus Jones but what I really like what you said was Colin Gillespie someone that could push the tempo a little bit and facilitate well I would agree with you if Chris Paul comes here I just want to say it again i’m not going to be against it i just don’t know how well he’s going to take with potentially taking a back seat to Colin Gillespie and I can’t I don’t know if you could start both those guys at the same time dude start but put those guys on the floor at the same time so I think you’re starting one or the other and I’d feel better about starting Gillespie over Jones is starting though bro i I
starting Booker and and Green
sorry i What I mean is on the floor at the same time what I mean when I say starting that you’re right that’s not the right words what I’m trying to say is when one guy is on the floor and one isn’t and I don’t think you can have both of those guys on the same floor Gillespie Taius Jones or Gillespie and CP3 and I’d rather as you said it as well a guy that I just forget about sometimes I’d rather him be pushing the tempo more than either of those guys yeah and because of Chris Paul and how great he is and how awesome he is I think he might have a little bit more of a problem with that than Taius Jones does
yeah we haven’t heard you know what his if it is his final season all that sort of stuff and and he has prioritized getting to play you know over the past two seasons with Golden State and San Antonio but he’s number three on my vet minimum list we’ll get to that in a second i want to talk about roster spots really quickly before we get to our list because as I look at it right now John Gamidoro reported late last week as the in the aftermath of the draft that he has an expectation that Grayson and Royce could still be on this team we tal we’re going to talk about how Nick Richards’s play team option just got picked up in the next segment that all could change nick Richards could be dumped race Grayson and Royce things could change if if an opportunity comes up to to move them out i definitely don’t think they’re untouchable i think it’s more about a lack of demand for those guys is why they might stay but with all that said right now I’m just going to read the names whatever we know who they are but I’m just going to do it booker Beal Grayson Royce Malawatch Williams Gillespie he’s not fully resigned but we expect he will be dunn Oso Fleming Richards Green and Brooks that’s uh 13 players okay then we have Jaylen Bridges we don’t know what their plans are with him he was on a two-way they could be they could bring him back on a two-way let’s just assume they do that and then Kobe Brea let’s assume they put him on a two-way just for the sake of if they don’t and they bring both those guys back on real contracts we have zero roster spots to talk about right now so let’s just say those guys are on two ways and the Suns have two roster spots that’s what we’re talking about so when you’re dreaming up all these players you want to see the Suns potentially take a look at keep in mind that their roster is pretty full because they did a one for three trade with with KD they conjured a player out of two picks with well I guess meets each but they thought they were going to cut him so then they got Mark Williams and then they got you know two players in the second round when we thought they might have you know might potentially take zero for all we knew so that’s where we’re at any thoughts in terms of all those players i would agree with you
well just the roster spot situation did I Did I overlook anything do you think those guys are going to be gone do you think they’ll bring Brea on a main contract there’s a lot of stuff that
I think there’s a chance Berea gets a main contract but I’m not going to overhype a second round pick too much so let’s wait till we see what he does in summer league before we go that far but for now I’d probably agree with you i think he’s more a two-way contract but I think it’s clear Gillespie needs to be a full league contract like he needs to be on the team next year um
he can’t sign another two-way Gillespie it’s not
I did not know that i didn’t even know that so there you go why can he wait okay wait so
because he’s he’s past his third year of his NBA career you can’t sign him like you can’t sign LeBron James to a two-way or something you know what I mean it’s it’s only for your first three seasons
okay well I would agree with you that’s probably what the roster is looking like also when you and I get into our vet guys which we will in just a second i will say this i am not putting as much stock in these players anymore this is literally just to fill out roster spots so that guys the 10th 11th ninth man on the roster can get minutes when they play Detroit on a random in a random day in March like we we can’t be putting so much stock in these we’ve been burned by these guys for the past
I don’t think they’re going to play much is the reality i mean with how the team’s being built but I do think you have to be realistic right be’s going to get hurt mark Williams is probably going to have some injury issues just based on their track record i don’t want that to happen but
that tends to happen and you know they are young guys if somebody has a real cold spell Ryan Dunn goes cold or you know Fleming doesn’t really cut it as a rookie you want to have some options so let’s go quickly through these because we’re going long here so I said Chris Paul was my number three number two I had a mere coffee from the Clippers he kind of lost minutes down the stretch for them i think he’s athletically limited but he can shoot it he’s 67 he’s a vet i just like the idea of adding a wing who can play because again I don’t know if Fleming’s going to be ready year one i’m not sure if Dunn is somebody that you want to be force-feeding minutes upon minutes because we saw his confidence fluctuate and everything he should be starting he should be playing a lot but I want to have some insulation behind him that’s all I’m saying and then number one I have Chris Buchet
oh wow
from Toronto so he is uh 32 he’s coming off a contract where he made like 10 million but you know he’s older he’s pretty limited i just look at how they built the roster with Fleming and even the guy that they brought in for a a two-way that I should have mentioned actually CJ Huntley i forgot to say his name they brought him in according to reports on a two-way uh he’s 610 like spacing four i just think that they’re you know they liked the idea of what Cleveland did with Mobley last year and I think they’re trying to get some guys who at least can seem like they play similarly to Moy and Buché is a close approximation to that that I could actually see getting some minutes if he falls all the way to being a minimum type guy uh what is your list
yeah really quickly uh number three it’s it’s a old Valley Boy uh Cameron Payne guy who I like to be able to come off the bench and push the pace with this team just another just a guard to have on here uh number two I think this guy is going to be a vet minimum guy and the Suns still I think have a little bit of a a little bit of a problem in the front court uh Larry Nance Jr um just really quickly do you think he’s going to be a vet minimum guy or do you think he’s going to get more money
uh let me see how many games he played last year because that’s the only thing if he if he’s healthy he’s nowhere near a minimum player if he Yeah he played 24
he played 24 so I think he was hurt a lot last season and that’s always been the problem but if when he’s healthy he’s way beyond being a minimum guy so it’s just a matter of health well way beyond a minimum guy but he never he hasn’t necessarily gotten a contract that has reflected that he’s made I think neither of his contracts were ever really were super hefty this one and then uh let me ask you this one man is Malcolm
contract where he made 11 so he’s kind of in that bouchet camp like I had where it’s like maybe but who knows
malcolm Brogden do you think he’s going to be a vet minimum guy
i don’t
i don’t think so either if he was he’d be my number one uh my number one guy I’m just looking for front court depth here i think I’m going to go with Thomas Bryant because of the reason that you had mentioned before uh the Mark Williams issue where Mark Williams can get injured i just want a guy that can step in spot start so I like Thomas Bryant here and again when I list these three guys they’re not super inspiring because I’m no longer putting my all my faith into these guys actually the person I like the best to fit here is Cam Payne because I think he can still push the pace and shoots the three ball effectively um and can come in and be that guy behind Colin Gillespie
yeah cool all right let’s get to the Nick Richards news and what it means for the Second Apron next first today’s show is brought to you i’m gonna cut that out there’s no way forget even cutting it out man people want to see us as as as our as human self dude sometimes we make mistakes that’s what happens nick Richards had his team option picked up for $5 million we weren’t sure exactly if they would do that but I think I was 90% sure that they would because he should have some trade value you don’t want to cut him because that doesn’t do you any good you lose a good player a rotation caliber NBA player for absolutely nothing that you just gave up three seconds for but then then when I was tweeting like “Oh they must be they’re they’re going to trade him.” I got some push back on this Ben because people were like similar to what you just said with Thomas Bryant for instance or my thoughts I guess a little with Chris Buchet although he’s more of a four I would say is well hey Mark Williams is pretty injuryprone Malawatch is raw and a rookie you’re not going to say he’s your 100% starter that’s going to be a positive player for you so maybe keep him I don’t mind that but what do you think Yeah hell no i do i do mind that we just selected Kaman Malawatch with the 10th overall pick in the draft i know he’s raw but if Mark
I don’t think anybody’s saying to play him over Nick over Malawatch just to be clear i don’t think anyone would say that
they’re saying they’re saying I think what I got from you is Malawatch you might want to have someone ready in case Mark Williams goes down and Molo Watch isn’t ready yet like I don’t care about any of that i’d rather just have a vet minimum guy it is not worth it to me to keep Nick Richards on this team as a luxury you’re not trying to win a championship if I can get I I I I think you’re going to think I’m a little crazier i think they’re going to get three second round picks for Nick Richards which is basically exactly what you gave up for Nick Richards and
why would a team do that if they said “Hey you just you gave that up for him in February and there and it’s now been a half a season so he has less time on his contract he only has one year now instead of one and a half
and we’re not as desperate as you were why would we pay you what you just gave up just to make you happy
i don’t think that that’s not true i do think teams are going to be a little desperate look at the center market in free agency man especially for teams that don’t have money who do you like who do you like better than Nick Richards cuz I disagree with you i think the Lakers Clint Capella Miles Vagner okay okay quickly quickly sure yes luke Cornette Larry all those players are going to get more than uh the Nick Richards those players are all going to get more than Nick Richards i’m with the words I said was
I’m not sure all those guys are going to get more than $5 million and even if they are it’s because they’re better
so I’m fine if I’m going to get I agree that they’re better but if you’re
I’d rather maybe if I’m a team I’d rather give one of those guys the taxpayer mid-level than trade assets to get Nick Richard
but but if you are a team like the Lakers who are strapped for cash and have a team and have a player like LeBron breathing down your throat you are trying to you are trying to get someone like Nick Richardson and then potentially use your whatever i think they’re in the first day principal
i’m not saying nobody will trade for him i’m just saying I think even just based on principle it’s like the car driving off the lot concept i don’t think the Suns are going to get back what they just gave up because that’s how they had with KD for the same reason right
is two second round picks too much then i think that they’re going to get something like that
one or two would probably be my I’ll say that they’re going to get two
probably not like a player of any real magnitude you’re just kind of reshuffling the deck with your picks yeah
and and what have we and just so we’re clear like those have been pretty valuable for the Suns they’re pretty good at maneuvering through the draft with those second round picks so the more you can get the better i do think we’re on the same page they should trade him i just want to pump the brakes a little on like them getting too too much back because
he only has one year left and he couldn’t even really
be a full-time rotation last year exactly so
he wasn’t that great but that brings us to the question so okay if they trade him and they get no player back outside of I guess a minimum player if they got a minimum player that doesn’t count against the cap and I think that they they’d be in the clear then they could cut Cody Martin which we should know about on Monday although I’m a little nervous that that’s going to come out by the time we record real quick just since it might do you think they cut Cody Martin
i think you should at this point as much as I liked having Cody Martin here like in terms of just a cap like just cap relief as much as I liked Cody Martin here as as little as he was playing you have too many guards there’s no reason to tax yourself literally even more
monetarily speaking for that
agreed with you i would say he’s more of a forward i would say that the fact that they want to give Dun minutes and Fleming is in the building and he’s kind of a small
is more of what’s blocking him out
he’s kind of a small forward and not small forward I mean like a smaller forward
okay well yeah but he can’t shoot and he can’t handle the ball so he’s to me a forward and that’s But hell is he a gritty guy you want to give those minutes to those guys and so yeah
agreed i I think if they but they could also do something similar to what they just did with Nick Richards
and guarantee him with the idea that they could trade him but where I’m getting to with all of this is right now if the Beal situation goes like you and I think where he’ll be on this roster on opening night if Gambo is right that as of now they don’t have any great options of trading Grayson and Royce the only way to get under the second apron is to get rid of Richardson and get rid of Martin because they added money in the Durant trade if I’m adding up correctly when it was all said and done they obviously added money with paying Mark Williams instead of the 29th overall pick that’s more money they traded mech so they don’t get to cut him he is Mark Williams now and then the bill thing is not there like I just said so I don’t I I just can’t imagine that they would be willing to pay into that second apron i mean it’s not paying more i guess I should say take the hit of
the limitations you have
and be in that second apron and then still every dollar you cut of money overall is just that much lower on your luxury tax bill regardless of the aprons so I don’t think that they’ll want to deal with that either i think that they will want to cut money so maybe it is just as simple as get rid of Richards and Martin and take no money back maybe that’s just what this is going to end up turning into but if not I I’m a little I’m a little confused what they do and then they don’t get the access to the tax pyramid level and somebody like Brogden or any of the dreamier free agency targets like that’s that’s not even there and we’re back to square one with basically can’t do anything i think just my prediction they trade Richards they get nothing back except second round picks there’s money cut there and they cut Caleb Martin i don’t see that there’s going to be a market for Caleb Martin either like maybe the maybe someone may
Cody Martin Caleb Martin
um either way
regardless they’re not going to be on my team in a second here anyways i don’t really don’t care about which
the other one again after
but they’re twins all right like I don’t care about which one
okay
um uh Cody Martin um Caleb Martin’s the good one although neither of them are
Exactly that that’s the big difference is one of them has actually like done some cool things in the NBA and you might want to have him on your team the other one outplay Jason Tatum in a game seven by the way but Cody Martin um maybe the Suns move him i doubt it though i’m sure they just cut him just going to cut the guy
we heard that the Miami Heat yeah that’s what I was that was kind of a weird little thing that popped up there and I think it might have been part of the KD trade
potentially would was where that came out of but um
also it’s just picks too i’m not saying they’re going to get anything back i think they just get like a like a second round pick back for him
i think they might have to attach a second to Cody Martin to get rid of him potentially
okay 9 million then we’re just cutting him
as it’s not worth it to me to trade Cody Martin i’m good
you can just
unless maybe they trade it maybe they trade a second round pick and with the contingency of the second round pick that they get back is better maybe but like no I don’t I don’t see it no I it’s probably just that as of right now the Suns are 11.4 million into the second apron those two guys combined make
they’ll get under it
13.7 so you’ll be 2.7ish 2.3 let’s say under it if you do that they basically have no chance of getting under the first apron unless they get rid of Brad and that might just be where they are and that would still be limits in in terms of the trades limits in terms of uh you get hardcapped if you do certain things but you do get the taxpayer midle if you’re over the first apron but under the second apron and you’re not you don’t get your picks frozen so it’s definitely a better place to be but um not not ideal for a team that’s still going to be scraping for 3540 wins you know
yeah let me uh let me just ask you a quick just yes or no question um in the previous couple years it has been pretty noisy for the Suns during free agency you assume it’s going to be pretty quiet tomorrow um if if unless they can trade Royce or Grayson in the next couple days I I think it’s going to be pretty quiet
so okay yeah so you and I both agree that most of the dominoes right
yeah and I don’t think they’re going to trade those guys either just from Gambas’s reporting uh it doesn’t sound like they’re going to trade those guys either so I would agree with you man all right that’ll wrap us up hit follow hit subscribe if you have not already the fireworks will be going on Monday i believe it starts at 3 Phoenix time we’ll have an episode Monday night to get you
all caught up to date enjoy your Monday we’ll talk to you then

The Phoenix Suns may have no choice but to keep Bradley Beal, while Chris Paul could be due for a return to the Valley.

Brendon Kleen and Ben Garcia discuss the latest NBA free agency news and how it affects the Suns, plus give their top 3 options with the veteran minimum.

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