The Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks were the only teams interested in acquiring Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal ahead of the NBA trade deadline, per Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
Beal has a no-trade clause in his contract. Apparently, the Suns had explored deals around both Beal and Kevin Durant — but ended up making none. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. The Suns were going out of their way to try to land Jimmy Butler, who ended up going from the Miami Heat to Golden State Warriors instead.
Beal was the centerpiece of those talks.
“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,” Windhorst and Shelburne wrote. “The Suns clung to that hope for weeks, hoping that if they could 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.”
As it stands, Durant and Beal remain in Phoenix and word is, Durant isn’t real thrilled with the organization for thinking about moving him. It’s not known how Beal might feel. Neither played in Friday’s win over the Utah Jazz.
Per RealGM: “Windhorst said on his podcast following the trade deadline that the messaging the Suns received on a trade of Beal was that the draft compensation they could offer couldn’t offset the cost for a team to take him on.”
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