Phoenix Suns insider breaks down Bradley Beal contract buyout
The Suns bought out guard Bradley Beal’s contract, ending his time in Phoenix. The Republic’s Duane Rankin explains what it means for the team.
- The Suns’ roster currently has an average age of about 25 years, significantly younger than last season’s team.
The Phoenix Suns aren’t ruling out another move this summer, but are good with their current roster, league sources informed The Arizona Republic.
Trading Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets before the 2025 NBA Draft and buying out Bradley Beal last week signaled the Suns were going in a different direction.
Beal joined the Los Angeles Clippers on a two-year, $11-million deal. The Suns plan to stretch out essentially $97 million of Beal’s previous contract over five years.
Now under the first and second tax apron, Phoenix has roster flexibility to aggregate contracts in a trade, do a sign-and-trade and work with mid-level exceptions.
The Suns have interest in Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, league sources confirmed to The Republic, but are unlikely to land him because they lack the draft capital and assets to deliver in what would be a sign-and-trade for the Warriors.
The Stein Line reported last week Phoenix’s interest in the restricted free agent.
The Suns don’t have veteran free agents like point guards Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook or power forward Al Horford on their radar, league sources informed The Republic.
Paul had interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, Suns and Clippers as he wants to be close to his family that resides in Los Angeles, sources say.
He was the catalyst in Phoenix’s run to the 2021 finals. The Suns traded the future first-ballot Hall of Famer in acquiring Beal from Washington in the summer of 2023.
Paul, now age 40, played all 82 games for the San Antonio Spurs in his 20th NBA season in 2024-25. The Suns appear to have needs at point guard and power forward, but they’re also not pressed to make a roster move.
Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale have been mentioned in trade talks this summer, but they’re excellent 3-point shooters. O’Neale made a career-high 40.6% of his 3s last season, while Allen is a career 41.4% 3-point shooter who led the NBA in 3s in 2023-24 at 46.1%.
Phoenix ranked third in the league last season in 3-point shooting percentage in large part because of Allen and O’Neale.
The Suns went into the 2024-25 season with the second-oldest NBA team, with an average age of 28.26. Durant is 36 years old and will turn 37 in late September of this year.
They’re building a younger team around Devin Booker, who this month signed a two-year, $145-million extension to mark the highest annual extension salary in NBA history.
The four-time All-Star is under contract with Phoenix through 2029-30.
The Suns currently have 13 players on their standard roster, counting Nigel Hayes-Davis, who most recently starred in the Euroleague. Phoenix hasn’t officially announced the 6-foot-8 forward signing a one-year deal with them.
Those 13 players have an average age of 25.46.
- Devin Booker (28).
- Jalen Green (23).
- Dillon Brooks (29).
- Grayson Allen (29).
- Royce O’Neale (32).
- Mark Williams (23).
- Khaman Maluach (18).
- Nick Richards (27).
- Ryan Dunn (22).
- Collin Gillespie (26).
- Nigel Hayes-Davis (30).
- Oso Ighodaro (23).
- Rasheer Fleming (21).
Phoenix acquired Green, Brooks and the 10th overall pick in the 2025 draft from the Rockets in the historic seven-team trade involving Durant. The 10th pick ended up being Maluach.
Second-round selections Koby Brea and Fleming were also part of the trade.
The Suns have reached their limit on two-way players with CJ Huntley, Isaiah Livers and Brea. Huntley and Brea are rookies, while Livers missed the entire 2024-25 season with a hip injury that required surgery.
Livers played three seasons with the Detroit Pistons, who drafted him in the second round of the 2021 draft out of Michigan.
The 6-6 forward has said he’ll be ready for Suns training camp.
The Suns have seven players from last season’s 36-win team in Booker, Allen, O’Neale, Dunn, Ighodaro, Richards and Gillespie, who signed a one-year deal after being on a two-way in his first year with them last season.
Phoenix failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20, which was the last time it had a losing record before last season.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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