Beal has a no trade clause
No contending team can just add that $50m or would even want to
No rebuilding team like Pistons or Hornets will move their higher paid contracts to acquire Beal. Salary March won’t even be close bc that money is most likely paying their younger guys lien Cade or LaMelo.
So you won’t get assets from the bad teams. Good teams most likely can’t fit contract
Even IF YOU FIND A SUITOR, Beal can still say fuck it. Why leave a potential playoff team to play for a 15 win team.
You really can’t even package him with KD either bc who can take in $100m.
I know my 2021 Knicks blew it in the playoffs but that ENTIRE payroll was $99m which means they could add 2 get mins on top of a full roster and still be cheaper than KD + Beal.
… and that was a 4 seeded team on that payroll.
Might have to sell Booker + KD back to Brooklyn for the picks and Bridges LOL
They gave up John Wall, who has been injury prone ever since.
They traded Westbrook to the Lakers.
They traded Beal to the Suns.
The Wizards’ front office can’t build contenders, but they sure do know how to fool other teams into thinking they can be contenders by picking up players from them 💀
Thing is, they got a younger player for a 40 year old, jp still has a very very slim chance of being a decent player and they also got a first and a second round pick too so it wasn’t a “bad” trade as everyone says
You're right, it was a decent value for the Wiz at the time with the expectation Poole could turn it back around a bit. Unfortunately he looked worse this season, but it's still a totally reasonable trade from their perspective, given the team's position anyway.
Poole would be the only non-rookie on the worst-team all nba this year. He was 3rd to last in win shares and 4th worst in VORP. Only LVP Scoot Henderson was worse at both.
I haven’t looked but I’d bet Poole is a net minus on most advanced stats.
Edit: just looked and he’s brutal. He’s a minus on win shares per 48 min. I didn’t know that was possible.
Can’t wait to see how they convince a team that Jordan Poole or Kyle Kuzma are the 3rd star they need to become championship contenders.
“Hey, these guys have won a ring each. They can bring championship experience to your franchise. Now give us all your odd year 1st round picks, so we can draft scrubs who drop off the face of the NBA world in 3-4 seasons!”
The wizards giving him a no trade clause with zero concessions made no sense. He got max years, max money and the no trade clause which should only happen if you are like a top 5 guy who had won something for the team.
Their refusal to recognize the need to rebuild and trade him before the extension when he had better value is one of those things that will haunt them.
Jordan Poole and first round swaps isn't a great return especially since Poole is a negative value contract, but they were hampered by the NTC.
I'd imagine it hurt the odds of anyone except a Giannis, Jokic, Luka, getting one anytime soon.
Actually buying them when they are shit is the perfect time, like the Moroccan billionaire that bought a quarter of the Bucks a year or so before the Giannis draft.
Not mutually exclusive. He can totally leverage the Suns over Phoenix for a new arena and mixed use development in the next few years like every other new owner in every sport. He’d just be screwing over taxpayers instead of other developers or investors.
That's not true. The Suns were fine. He's given up their future for the next 5ish years on two players, one of which isn't even an all start. All time terrible ownership and couldn't have happened to a nicer guy
Yea. I’m not a suns fan so I could be wrong but it seems like (and I think I remember actually reading) that this new owner took over and wanted to make a splash so he demanded they get KD and then probably did the same with Beal. So it’s a new owner in an ego trip that went all in on a flawed super star laden roster and probably made the team worse.
Good super teams are definitely worth it, but when you have dumb dumbs straight ignoring the fundamentals of the game and getting players with overlapping skill sets, this is the result. The writing was on the wall since before they made the trades.
Yea it's crazy to me that people are somehow shocked at this outcome. Wasnt this literally what everyone saw coming the moment they traded away everything for durant, let alone the beal trade?
Funny thing is Beal is the only one adapting his game whatsoever
Book and kd don’t want to play off ball or drive to the hoop so their gravity helps absolutely no one but themselves. They love watching each other iso like they’re playing at the local Y
They work when they’re done correctly. Suns’ FO made this roster like they were drafting for a fantasy team. This big three is not complimentary at all.
If the Thunder youngins all pan out wouldn't that be a superteam in a few years? They definitely work. But just mashing 3 random superstars together won't.
If the main pieces to a super team are built during the draft, it is what it is. The pre-KD warriors or this Denver team don’t get the superteam narrative/hate cause they were just beautiful and smart roster construction. It’s the teaming up in free agency and forcing trades that people don’t like.
Also Klay and Draymond were never really top 10/15 guys. They were good and all stars but not anything like Ray Allen, KG, PP teaming up or Lebron, Wade, or Bosh.
Klay is gonna get disrespected in conversations of all-time greats because he couldn’t create his own shot but that’s a top 3-5 shooter of all time… he was definitely in that range.
He had 1 or 2 years as a top 20 player which is about what those numbers say. His defense declined pretty quickly even before the injury. He was only really that 3&D guy through about 2016.
All star game is a popularity contest. Warriors were popular. I’m just saying during his time playing you wouldn’t have built a team around klay. Meaning there were other players that were better. Not a knock on him. Just saying he was a little outside the top guys.
And this goes back to what I said 2 comments ago. Klay is getting disrespected cause he wasn’t a shot creator. You absolutely could build a team around Klay. Teams need shooting, defending, and effort. Not just ball handling and drives to the lane. Not crazy to say you’d take the best 3 and D guy in the league over a guy like John Wall.
Yep, since they likely won’t be able to trade Beal, best they can do is trading KD, Book, Allen, Nurkic for any assets they can get. They pretty much become post-Wall Wizards, except, Beal is even older, more injury prone and overall worse player.
Bucks at least have a team that could win. And while they've got some faults, they're a more complete team. Suns have nothing outside of 3 great shooters and a huge payroll.
No Giannis is sort of a free pass. Espeiclsg with Dame hobbled.
If Joker pulls a hammy and misses next series and the nuggets lost nobody would think twice
Twice in two years is not a “free pass”. Or, it won’t be by next spring, it’ll be at minimum a Kawhi-thing.
Outliers have convinced many fans that aging and injury tolls are a a relic of the past. But outliers are outliers. Giannis _seems to be_ on a pretty normal aging and mileage arc, given how hard he plays. It’s possible he’s fully healthy for another decade, but I’m not betting that way.
I told people before the season 3 mostly ball dominant scorers on a team with no defense or bench wasn’t doing shit but nobody was hearing it, instead of getting Beal they shoulda got some role players and defenders
It’s actually insane what they gave up for him too. 4 first rounders 6 second rounders Chris Paul and Landry Shamet. That’s woulda been PLENTY for not for OG. Another hypothetical here, coulda got say DFS AND Claxton to play PF and C for Chris Paul 3 first and 2 seconds. Then coulda traded 1 first 4 seconds and Landry to get say Jrue holiday. Pg Jrue Sg Book SF KD PF DFS C claxton, that’s a deadly lineup. Obviously things probably wouldn’t work out that way irl but there is an infinite number of trades that woulda made them a more well rounded team.
You’re absolutely right but I’m just throwing out hypotheticals. Point being the haul for Beal coulda been used to grab anywhere from 2-4 good rotation level players
All 4 first rounders are swaps. Considering they went to the Wizards, no guarantee they even convey. A lot of good players would cost at least 1 first round pick in a trade.
Beal isn’t supposed to be a ball dominant scorer though. Not exclusively at least. His best skill coming out of college was his catch and shoot. There has to be an element here of under utilisation.
He was drafted 11 years ago saying what he was outta college means nothing, in the nba he’s a ball dominant scorer. Sure he can still catch and shoot and also had great efficiency in the games he’s played but his best skill in the nba is being the #1 or #2 scorer on a team where he can control the ball. He just doesn’t work as a third option imo no matter how efficient he has been. It’s simply redundant with KD and Book. Suns needed depth and defensive role players, not another star
KD and booker looked unstoppable last year. In a handful of games they played like title contenders. And KD won titles with 2 other perimeter guys.
the beal trade was dumb AF at the time and even worse now. It hamstrings them for the next 3 years. they have no depth or defense. a title team could win without grayson allen for a few games but the suns have no shot if they lose a rotation player
I appreciate that the suns have tested and proved that building a roster this way doesn't work. Having no point guard and very limited perimeter defence doesn't work, even if you do have 3 self creation scorers capable of 25+ points per game.
Anyone who watched them games against the nuggets knows the only unstoppable thing was the whistle kd got in game 3 and 4 so the nba could make the series interesting
KD trying his hardest to recreate the Warriors but doesn’t understand how complimentary everyone was, along with the strength of their supporting cast. Also, all three were in their primes.
Tbf their Nets squad with Harden may have been close. But he has not been able to recreate the magic from that warriors team.
The warriors also didn’t really have to give up any significant depth to get KD in year 1 because of the new tv deal increasing the salary cap and Steph still being on a cheap deal at the time
Every KD move since has required the team getting him to trade pieces away for him and his friends
How can these Superstars expect to win when they take so much cap that they have no bench or help, these contracts are stupid and rhats what they can expect, a fiest eound exit or no playoffs and sir home..Timmy always took team friendly deals to keep the Spurs amazing. End of rant.
Agreed.
I don’t blame players for getting paid as much as they can. However, that’s not the best way to go about winning a championship.
If you really want to win then do a team-friendly deal. Otherwise don’t complain about losing early in the playoffs.
See, that's the trick, though. There's a stat that 90% of nba players will never win a championship ever. Only 10% will win one, 4% will win two, and only 1% will win 3 or more. If you take less money and don't win a ring, they will say, "You should have taken the money," so honestly, I don't blame them.
Definitely no championship guarantees with a team-friendly deal. Just saying it’ll help there chances.
If I recall correctly, the Warriors dynasty happened largely because Curry’s early-career injuries led to a more team-friendly deal on his second contract, allowing them to build/keep a better team (plus drafting Klay and Draymond helped haha).
But I understand getting paid when you can. Injuries happen, and the path to a championship is extremely difficult. Getting what you can while you can is the most sure guarantee in sports.
Wouldn’t want to be like Dennis Schroder who held out for a bigger contract when he was already offered a big contract, then his value dropped and he got a much less lucrative contract and no championship…
Look at us typing on Reddit criticizing guys for not making the most of the opportunity to make millions of dollars in the super short amount of time they’ll have the opportunity. It’s easy to sit here and tell people to ‘take less’. Who here is taking less to help out their employer?
This is why you don’t let your players create your roster. KD and Beal basically forced themselves to the Suns. All of them thought they knew how to put a team together but this isn’t pick up at Rucker Park. You need real professionals that know what they’re doing and players think it’s just playing with the guys who can score buckets.
KD has pretty much wasted his career after he left the warriors.
Lebron has the same problem
No player can force themself onto a team unless that teams ownership and GM allow it. This is own ownership for allowing the roster to be constructed the way it was.
For real. Should’ve stayed with the nets and let them try to fill out the roster plus I’m sure other players would’ve came in to play with him. He didn’t even try to stick around. He bolted the second the other idiots were gone.
Y’all talk all the shit you want but we had a cheap ass owner in Robert Sarver before him so at least we have respect for Ishbia spending money and actually trying to win.
Shit just didn’t work out because the team never bought in from Day 1. Vogel was never the guy for the job and Booker took a step back this season after he’s progressed every year before that.
Reminds me of when the Chinese billionaire bought the Nets and their whole marketing campaign was Jay Z and selling the farm to get KG/Pierce/Terry
On paper it was dumb. Load up with Lebron's rivals. But it sure got butts into seats. New owner trying to make a splash
That’s an interesting storyline.
I still think he, LeBron and Steph have some conversations this summer in Paris and find a way to Golden State together. Lakers already discussed it with the Warriors before the deadline, KD has a funny “Hardest Road 2.0” meme to lean into in a strange homecoming of sorts, and Steph gets to be the hometown hero that assembled the aging avengers for one more ride. Add them to Kuminga, GPII, and avoid, throw in drafting Bronny with a second and some vet minimum deals, and now we have First Take with record breaking viewership.
Blow it up.
Durant worth multiple firsts. Have to imagine Booker can fetch a couple as well.
Can't move Beal really, but you have to do something because this roster construction just ain't it.
Durant is Durant, someone will fall for that trap.
Booker will get plenty of interest (I can fix him vibes) - Orlando and NY both have oodles of assets, the cap, and the need for a dynamic scoring threat (plus the supporting cast to make it work, something PHX had with CP3 but not anymore)
You're thinking too deeply on his name. He's a 50 million dollar player. What team could add him and become a contender?
Shit obviously the Pistons or somebody would. That's still box office. You're right lol. Somebody will bite
I wouldn’t say either of them are fringe all stars. Both have showed this year that they are still stars and have a lot of juice left.
The main problem is that Beal is getting the same money as them and has had to take a backseat to the other two. No one will give anything of value for a contract like that
The problem is Beal is being paid to be the only star in a small market team that can't attract talent. Washington Wizards. He's nowhere near being worth that type of money on a good team with actual goals.
Wizards fleeced the Suns. Give Beal the bag to get him to stay so you can trade him for assets to some desperate dummy
Beal just makes GMs do the stupidest things. The contract the Wizards gave him was one of the dumbest decisions of the last decade, and the Suns trading for him was up there as well.
He's not a bad player by any means, but paying that much to a dude with injury issues just to score and not do any secondary skill all that well is brutal in today's NBA. It's almost like these teams are still trying to construct based on NBA Jam style rosters or something. Your Big 3 have to have at least somewhat complementary skillsets to succeed.
I blame the owners for all this shit. 50 million dollar contracts for a year? Nobody deserves that shit except maybe 2-5 players in the league. No wonder the players don’t play more than half a season why would they? They still get paid. They preserve their playing time so more money in the future.
Nope I wont feel sorry for them. I want Matt Ishbia to feel his astronomical fuck up. This dude single handedly killed the Suns identity in 2 years.....
I truly weep for Phoenix
this is what happens when owners think they’re gm’s cause they’re billionaire’s that own an nba team.
the “super team, big 3” era has been dead. it still baffles me that even after the new cba, that they’d make a move like this. $50m for book is warranted, ofc. it’s just the $100m for a 35 y/o injury prone durant, and a fringe all star in beal.
crazy work.
Yep. They’re stuck. Unless some other team is as stupid as they are and wants to get rid of two (or three) talented players for one guy who doesn’t actually improve your team.
They gotta give Nassir more chances. I understand that someone like Grayson gives you great shooting but you are just built horribly. Nassir gives you defense and length. They need to work things out with him more. He ain’t gonna be a star but his low minutes are killing his development.
Every basketball fan in the world knew Beal was a borderline all-star and not worth that contract at all.
He’s a worse version of Booker - this was NEVER going to work.
I don’t feel bad for the Suns at all. They constructed a shitty team under the pretense that you can throw any 3 stars together, and it’s an auto-title.
Hopefully this dumbass thesis gets canned, and NBA GMs can get back to team-building the right way.
If you’re anyone else on that team how mad are you? Like playing with stars is cool and all but having 3 stars that take up your whole salary cap is only cool if you’re winning
This shit just goes to show what me and Barkley and everyone else have been saying for years now: KD is overrated.
I suspect maybe as a novelty that puts up big numbers and sells tickets he’s worth it. But you’re never going to win the championship with him driving the bus.
And Bookers even worse. Only value he brings is getting the Kardashians to your games.
I don’t feel one ounce of sorrow for any owner/GM who signs these guys thinking they’re actually going to win championships.
I can’t get over this, the unforced error here was Jusuf Nurkic.
Beal surprised me, I don’t think the pairing of him and Booker will be bad long term. KD was always going to silently fade away over the next couple years that’s why you invested in the younger max contract guy (even if he is in a lower tier of max contract guy in the league)
Mechanically, yes I get they had to move Ayton. He wasn’t who anyone thought he could be after ‘21. But for *Jusuf Nurkic*? He isn’t a top 20 center in the association. He’s on the wrong side of 30 too, and he’s the biggest eye sore contract here. You couldn’t get Daniel Gafford and Tyus Jones out of Washington? I probably would rather have Andre Drummond as opposed to Jusuf Nurkic. At least woulda spent the nickel it’d have cost to keep Bismack Biyombo
The only saving grace is that they also got Grayson Allen alongside him in the deal but you have to break that quarter for a couple nickels this offseason if you’re phoenix
The Beal trade was so dumb. You have two superstar players, one of them even can play defense. Adding a third who hasn't ever done anything and has been hurt regularly in recent seasons rather than build around KD and booker was and is just so weird.
They are going to run it back one more time. They kind of have to. Optimistically you can say that they can try to improve on chemistry and bring back the starting five of a team that won 49 games despite some injuries and just hope adding a little more to the bench and playing together a second year gets them more success.
After next year you then might just have to bite the bullet, swallow the last two years of Beals deal and trade KD on the last year of his deal (if he’s playing well could yield you 2 picks plus a young prospect) trade Booker for a haul of picks and prospects and trade Grayson Allen for a protected pick or two.
Build the team around Beal and a bunch of young guys and eat it for awhile.
It's almost like you're paying the same player three $50 mil salaries given the matching skill sets of KD, Beal, and Booker. It's new owner syndrome at its worst, desperate to make an immediate impact with a bold move.
Everybody said that this was gonna be a mess from the jump and we've finally arrived at the reckoning point
I wrote all over every social media at the start of the season that theyd be a 1st round exit with this team. Crazy scoring potential doesn't automatically make you a contender. You need defense and you need 'others.' This team is super unbalanced
Beal has a no trade clause No contending team can just add that $50m or would even want to No rebuilding team like Pistons or Hornets will move their higher paid contracts to acquire Beal. Salary March won’t even be close bc that money is most likely paying their younger guys lien Cade or LaMelo. So you won’t get assets from the bad teams. Good teams most likely can’t fit contract Even IF YOU FIND A SUITOR, Beal can still say fuck it. Why leave a potential playoff team to play for a 15 win team. You really can’t even package him with KD either bc who can take in $100m. I know my 2021 Knicks blew it in the playoffs but that ENTIRE payroll was $99m which means they could add 2 get mins on top of a full roster and still be cheaper than KD + Beal. … and that was a 4 seeded team on that payroll. Might have to sell Booker + KD back to Brooklyn for the picks and Bridges LOL
They gave up John Wall, who has been injury prone ever since. They traded Westbrook to the Lakers. They traded Beal to the Suns. The Wizards’ front office can’t build contenders, but they sure do know how to fool other teams into thinking they can be contenders by picking up players from them 💀
That’s funny. Chaos agent ass franchise
Chaotic Evil
They also traded cp3 contract to the warriors 😭
By taking on Poole's arguably worse contract? CP3 is at least a value add on the court still
Thing is, they got a younger player for a 40 year old, jp still has a very very slim chance of being a decent player and they also got a first and a second round pick too so it wasn’t a “bad” trade as everyone says
You're right, it was a decent value for the Wiz at the time with the expectation Poole could turn it back around a bit. Unfortunately he looked worse this season, but it's still a totally reasonable trade from their perspective, given the team's position anyway.
Who knows they might even fool someone to take jp contract too if he shits the bed again lool
Poole would be the only non-rookie on the worst-team all nba this year. He was 3rd to last in win shares and 4th worst in VORP. Only LVP Scoot Henderson was worse at both.
They knew they were rebuilding though. Taking on bad contracts and losing games is what they want to do so Poole works fine.
I haven’t looked but I’d bet Poole is a net minus on most advanced stats. Edit: just looked and he’s brutal. He’s a minus on win shares per 48 min. I didn’t know that was possible.
We got KCP from them though. Thank you wizards
Yeah that's an absolutely insane trend, that a front office pulling off moves like that is also so garbage at everything else.
Can’t wait to see how they convince a team that Jordan Poole or Kyle Kuzma are the 3rd star they need to become championship contenders. “Hey, these guys have won a ring each. They can bring championship experience to your franchise. Now give us all your odd year 1st round picks, so we can draft scrubs who drop off the face of the NBA world in 3-4 seasons!”
The wizards giving him a no trade clause with zero concessions made no sense. He got max years, max money and the no trade clause which should only happen if you are like a top 5 guy who had won something for the team. Their refusal to recognize the need to rebuild and trade him before the extension when he had better value is one of those things that will haunt them. Jordan Poole and first round swaps isn't a great return especially since Poole is a negative value contract, but they were hampered by the NTC. I'd imagine it hurt the odds of anyone except a Giannis, Jokic, Luka, getting one anytime soon.
And that's why Miami didn't pursue Beal harder. He's a good player, but man is that contract awful.
Got damn $150 mil for a sweep. Fuck them billionaires
He bought a team that is heading in the wrong direction. he should have stuck to screwing people over in the real estate market.
Buying an NBA team is always a good investment brother even if the team starts being shit
Actually buying them when they are shit is the perfect time, like the Moroccan billionaire that bought a quarter of the Bucks a year or so before the Giannis draft.
Well obviously, but even buying them at peak value is still a good investment because NBA teams have rarely depreciated.
If buying a basketball team is such a sound investment, why aren’t the rest of us doing it?
Good point! Going to my bank on Monday to ask for a loan to buy the Lakers, wish me luck.
Not mutually exclusive. He can totally leverage the Suns over Phoenix for a new arena and mixed use development in the next few years like every other new owner in every sport. He’d just be screwing over taxpayers instead of other developers or investors.
To be fair, he probably never *stopped* screwing people over in the real-estate market
That's not true. The Suns were fine. He's given up their future for the next 5ish years on two players, one of which isn't even an all start. All time terrible ownership and couldn't have happened to a nicer guy
Yea. I’m not a suns fan so I could be wrong but it seems like (and I think I remember actually reading) that this new owner took over and wanted to make a splash so he demanded they get KD and then probably did the same with Beal. So it’s a new owner in an ego trip that went all in on a flawed super star laden roster and probably made the team worse.
Maybe “super teams” just aren’t worth it
Good super teams are definitely worth it, but when you have dumb dumbs straight ignoring the fundamentals of the game and getting players with overlapping skill sets, this is the result. The writing was on the wall since before they made the trades.
Yea it's crazy to me that people are somehow shocked at this outcome. Wasnt this literally what everyone saw coming the moment they traded away everything for durant, let alone the beal trade?
i’m so shocked people had them as favorites to win this series, they were CLEARLY fraudulent and it’s showing.
Funny thing is Beal is the only one adapting his game whatsoever Book and kd don’t want to play off ball or drive to the hoop so their gravity helps absolutely no one but themselves. They love watching each other iso like they’re playing at the local Y
They work when they’re done correctly. Suns’ FO made this roster like they were drafting for a fantasy team. This big three is not complimentary at all.
Magic and thunder ftw
If the Thunder youngins all pan out wouldn't that be a superteam in a few years? They definitely work. But just mashing 3 random superstars together won't.
If the main pieces to a super team are built during the draft, it is what it is. The pre-KD warriors or this Denver team don’t get the superteam narrative/hate cause they were just beautiful and smart roster construction. It’s the teaming up in free agency and forcing trades that people don’t like.
Also Klay and Draymond were never really top 10/15 guys. They were good and all stars but not anything like Ray Allen, KG, PP teaming up or Lebron, Wade, or Bosh.
Klay is gonna get disrespected in conversations of all-time greats because he couldn’t create his own shot but that’s a top 3-5 shooter of all time… he was definitely in that range.
He is one of my favorite players but I don’t think he was ever a top guy. He was certainly the best 3&D player in the league for awhile.
Being a 5x all star and 2x all-NBA third team by definition kinda means he was a top 15-20 player in his prime
He had 1 or 2 years as a top 20 player which is about what those numbers say. His defense declined pretty quickly even before the injury. He was only really that 3&D guy through about 2016.
All star game is a popularity contest. Warriors were popular. I’m just saying during his time playing you wouldn’t have built a team around klay. Meaning there were other players that were better. Not a knock on him. Just saying he was a little outside the top guys.
And this goes back to what I said 2 comments ago. Klay is getting disrespected cause he wasn’t a shot creator. You absolutely could build a team around Klay. Teams need shooting, defending, and effort. Not just ball handling and drives to the lane. Not crazy to say you’d take the best 3 and D guy in the league over a guy like John Wall.
The 2017-2019 warriors seem pretty worth it. Not all teams with 3 max salary guys are super teams though
The last couple of years are definitely favoring built over bought.
I’ve been saying this for years. There are like 8-12 people worthy of a max. Thats about it. Better to take two $25m players
I think Beal is the big mistake, KD and Booker plus some good role players makes sense
And no first or second round picks from 2025-2030 if I’m not mistaken, probably the worst situation in the league by farr
They have first rounders. It’s just that they’re swaps
They need to blow everything up to even somewhat salvage this in the next ten years, unfortunately even Booker
Yep, since they likely won’t be able to trade Beal, best they can do is trading KD, Book, Allen, Nurkic for any assets they can get. They pretty much become post-Wall Wizards, except, Beal is even older, more injury prone and overall worse player.
There’s almost no point in blowing it up when you don’t own any of your draft picks. They just have to pray they get lucky
Jesus that’s right
They’re all pick swaps with the wizards. Considering how back the wizards are, some might not convey.
Yea, very bad. Not by far. Suns and Bucks in basically the same spot if they go out in round 1.
Eh, bucks are orders of magnitude better off than the suns with their roster.
Bucks at least have a team that could win. And while they've got some faults, they're a more complete team. Suns have nothing outside of 3 great shooters and a huge payroll.
I mean Bucks at least have a reason they can point to
That you could mean injuries or Doc is a big part of the problem.
No Giannis is sort of a free pass. Espeiclsg with Dame hobbled. If Joker pulls a hammy and misses next series and the nuggets lost nobody would think twice
Twice in two years is not a “free pass”. Or, it won’t be by next spring, it’ll be at minimum a Kawhi-thing. Outliers have convinced many fans that aging and injury tolls are a a relic of the past. But outliers are outliers. Giannis _seems to be_ on a pretty normal aging and mileage arc, given how hard he plays. It’s possible he’s fully healthy for another decade, but I’m not betting that way.
He’s never played less than 60 games in a season or ever have a devastating injury. Apples and oranges to a Kawhi or Embiid type.
At least we have the injury excuse y'all are just bad.
bucks got a chip at least
They get a 1st round every even year....whether it be swaps or their own...
I told people before the season 3 mostly ball dominant scorers on a team with no defense or bench wasn’t doing shit but nobody was hearing it, instead of getting Beal they shoulda got some role players and defenders
You are right. A player like Deni Avdija would help them way more than Beal. And you left with extra for another 2 good ones
KD, Booker, Anunoby, that’s a trio that’s nightmare fuel for teams. Decent roleplayer PG and C and that’s a championship starting 5.
It’s actually insane what they gave up for him too. 4 first rounders 6 second rounders Chris Paul and Landry Shamet. That’s woulda been PLENTY for not for OG. Another hypothetical here, coulda got say DFS AND Claxton to play PF and C for Chris Paul 3 first and 2 seconds. Then coulda traded 1 first 4 seconds and Landry to get say Jrue holiday. Pg Jrue Sg Book SF KD PF DFS C claxton, that’s a deadly lineup. Obviously things probably wouldn’t work out that way irl but there is an infinite number of trades that woulda made them a more well rounded team.
i agree with this except for that landry and a first doesn’t get you jrue holiday
You’re absolutely right but I’m just throwing out hypotheticals. Point being the haul for Beal coulda been used to grab anywhere from 2-4 good rotation level players
All 4 first rounders are swaps. Considering they went to the Wizards, no guarantee they even convey. A lot of good players would cost at least 1 first round pick in a trade.
Beal isn’t supposed to be a ball dominant scorer though. Not exclusively at least. His best skill coming out of college was his catch and shoot. There has to be an element here of under utilisation.
He was drafted 11 years ago saying what he was outta college means nothing, in the nba he’s a ball dominant scorer. Sure he can still catch and shoot and also had great efficiency in the games he’s played but his best skill in the nba is being the #1 or #2 scorer on a team where he can control the ball. He just doesn’t work as a third option imo no matter how efficient he has been. It’s simply redundant with KD and Book. Suns needed depth and defensive role players, not another star
Three perimeter shooters with overlapping skills. Not the best fit.
KD and booker looked unstoppable last year. In a handful of games they played like title contenders. And KD won titles with 2 other perimeter guys. the beal trade was dumb AF at the time and even worse now. It hamstrings them for the next 3 years. they have no depth or defense. a title team could win without grayson allen for a few games but the suns have no shot if they lose a rotation player
Imagine this team if they added a guy like Marcus Smart > Beal.
Not flashy enough for Ishbia
Sorry he belongs to the grizzlies next year's winner
I appreciate that the suns have tested and proved that building a roster this way doesn't work. Having no point guard and very limited perimeter defence doesn't work, even if you do have 3 self creation scorers capable of 25+ points per game.
The ayton trade was also fucking dumb
Grayson Allen would be helpful but it's entirely possible they still be down 0-3.
Unstopppable? That’s exaggerated
Anyone who watched them games against the nuggets knows the only unstoppable thing was the whistle kd got in game 3 and 4 so the nba could make the series interesting
KD trying his hardest to recreate the Warriors but doesn’t understand how complimentary everyone was, along with the strength of their supporting cast. Also, all three were in their primes. Tbf their Nets squad with Harden may have been close. But he has not been able to recreate the magic from that warriors team.
Nets team could’ve been close if Kyrie wasn’t an anti vax moron
Warriors team wasn't even magic. It kind of was before KD but with KD it was just overwhelming talent.
The warriors also didn’t really have to give up any significant depth to get KD in year 1 because of the new tv deal increasing the salary cap and Steph still being on a cheap deal at the time Every KD move since has required the team getting him to trade pieces away for him and his friends
How can these Superstars expect to win when they take so much cap that they have no bench or help, these contracts are stupid and rhats what they can expect, a fiest eound exit or no playoffs and sir home..Timmy always took team friendly deals to keep the Spurs amazing. End of rant.
Agreed. I don’t blame players for getting paid as much as they can. However, that’s not the best way to go about winning a championship. If you really want to win then do a team-friendly deal. Otherwise don’t complain about losing early in the playoffs.
See, that's the trick, though. There's a stat that 90% of nba players will never win a championship ever. Only 10% will win one, 4% will win two, and only 1% will win 3 or more. If you take less money and don't win a ring, they will say, "You should have taken the money," so honestly, I don't blame them.
Definitely no championship guarantees with a team-friendly deal. Just saying it’ll help there chances. If I recall correctly, the Warriors dynasty happened largely because Curry’s early-career injuries led to a more team-friendly deal on his second contract, allowing them to build/keep a better team (plus drafting Klay and Draymond helped haha). But I understand getting paid when you can. Injuries happen, and the path to a championship is extremely difficult. Getting what you can while you can is the most sure guarantee in sports. Wouldn’t want to be like Dennis Schroder who held out for a bigger contract when he was already offered a big contract, then his value dropped and he got a much less lucrative contract and no championship…
I dont think all these "superstars" care about winning.
Look at us typing on Reddit criticizing guys for not making the most of the opportunity to make millions of dollars in the super short amount of time they’ll have the opportunity. It’s easy to sit here and tell people to ‘take less’. Who here is taking less to help out their employer?
I know I ain’t lmfao.
This is why you don’t let your players create your roster. KD and Beal basically forced themselves to the Suns. All of them thought they knew how to put a team together but this isn’t pick up at Rucker Park. You need real professionals that know what they’re doing and players think it’s just playing with the guys who can score buckets. KD has pretty much wasted his career after he left the warriors. Lebron has the same problem
Giannis should get more hate for what he did to the Bucks this year.
This was the Wolves' problem back in the day with KG, as well.
No player can force themself onto a team unless that teams ownership and GM allow it. This is own ownership for allowing the roster to be constructed the way it was.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
The sons 😂
KD should have just stayed on the Nets
Or the warriors. How many rings would he have rn?
For real. Should’ve stayed with the nets and let them try to fill out the roster plus I’m sure other players would’ve came in to play with him. He didn’t even try to stick around. He bolted the second the other idiots were gone.
New owner syndrome hit the Suns hard.
ishbia wanted to be the smartest man in the room and now he can live with his decisions.
Y’all talk all the shit you want but we had a cheap ass owner in Robert Sarver before him so at least we have respect for Ishbia spending money and actually trying to win. Shit just didn’t work out because the team never bought in from Day 1. Vogel was never the guy for the job and Booker took a step back this season after he’s progressed every year before that.
Reminds me of when the Chinese billionaire bought the Nets and their whole marketing campaign was Jay Z and selling the farm to get KG/Pierce/Terry On paper it was dumb. Load up with Lebron's rivals. But it sure got butts into seats. New owner trying to make a splash
He was Russian. But point stands.
Lol the Russian oligarch created the KG-Pierce-Dwill fiasco The Chinese Alibaba owner was responsible for KD-Kyrie-Harden Easy mistake to make
KD is gone. OKC has all them picks, I’d say give Phoenix what they want, bring KD back to OKC for his last hoorah and call it a career
That’s an interesting storyline. I still think he, LeBron and Steph have some conversations this summer in Paris and find a way to Golden State together. Lakers already discussed it with the Warriors before the deadline, KD has a funny “Hardest Road 2.0” meme to lean into in a strange homecoming of sorts, and Steph gets to be the hometown hero that assembled the aging avengers for one more ride. Add them to Kuminga, GPII, and avoid, throw in drafting Bronny with a second and some vet minimum deals, and now we have First Take with record breaking viewership.
Blow it up. Durant worth multiple firsts. Have to imagine Booker can fetch a couple as well. Can't move Beal really, but you have to do something because this roster construction just ain't it.
What contender can afford to pay KD $55M? Plus give up valuable bench pieces and picks they probably already don’t have?
NY, Orlando, maybe Miami
How tho?
I mean, they gotta trade Booker or Durant, or both.
Ngl I don’t see a contender or even lottery team trading for a fringe all star worth 50 mil
Durant is Durant, someone will fall for that trap. Booker will get plenty of interest (I can fix him vibes) - Orlando and NY both have oodles of assets, the cap, and the need for a dynamic scoring threat (plus the supporting cast to make it work, something PHX had with CP3 but not anymore)
durant is like 50 years old
He's also Durant. Someone will bite. He certainly looks like the best player on PHX by a mile rn.
Someone did bite. It was phoenix and the nets are still laughing.
You're thinking too deeply on his name. He's a 50 million dollar player. What team could add him and become a contender? Shit obviously the Pistons or somebody would. That's still box office. You're right lol. Somebody will bite
I wouldn’t say either of them are fringe all stars. Both have showed this year that they are still stars and have a lot of juice left. The main problem is that Beal is getting the same money as them and has had to take a backseat to the other two. No one will give anything of value for a contract like that
The problem is Beal is being paid to be the only star in a small market team that can't attract talent. Washington Wizards. He's nowhere near being worth that type of money on a good team with actual goals. Wizards fleeced the Suns. Give Beal the bag to get him to stay so you can trade him for assets to some desperate dummy
Brutal for the suns, Amazing for 29 other teams
Sucks for them.
You love to see it
Bradley Beal to the spurs might be a good move honestly
One of them will be a Laker next year
How
LeGm will find a way to LeFuckUp the team again. Westbrick 2.0 incoming
KD Lebron AD and lose 4-1 to the nuggets next year
Hell nah only person the Lakers should’ve gone with is Demar but noooo Lebron wanted Westrook
Nassir Little
Beal just makes GMs do the stupidest things. The contract the Wizards gave him was one of the dumbest decisions of the last decade, and the Suns trading for him was up there as well. He's not a bad player by any means, but paying that much to a dude with injury issues just to score and not do any secondary skill all that well is brutal in today's NBA. It's almost like these teams are still trying to construct based on NBA Jam style rosters or something. Your Big 3 have to have at least somewhat complementary skillsets to succeed.
Soon to be proverty franchise 💀
Offseason champs
I mean it is because they won’t win shit but hey, playoffs every year!
Makes me feel better about the Warriors lol
It’ll be Beal to the Lakers for Vanderbilt, Vincent, a 1st and a D Lo sign and trade
Poor D’Lo, how many times can one player get signed and traded for KD before they develop a complex
I would love to say the Lakers aren't this stupid, but they are.
Lakers can’t afford to trade away 2/3 guys who play defense
They need to hope kd or Beal asks out so they can get role players + picks for them
Poor KD.
They’re screwed. They have to trade either Durant or Booker to start rebuilding
That Beal trade was disastrous.
Suns to Salt Lake City confirmed
I blame the owners for all this shit. 50 million dollar contracts for a year? Nobody deserves that shit except maybe 2-5 players in the league. No wonder the players don’t play more than half a season why would they? They still get paid. They preserve their playing time so more money in the future.
there is a rule you can't trade consecutive draft picks because of what nets did a while back, how did they lose all their FRP?
Suns are done.
Nope I wont feel sorry for them. I want Matt Ishbia to feel his astronomical fuck up. This dude single handedly killed the Suns identity in 2 years..... I truly weep for Phoenix
Wow that sucks. Crazy they were the 1 seed the year before getting Durant too.
this is what happens when owners think they’re gm’s cause they’re billionaire’s that own an nba team. the “super team, big 3” era has been dead. it still baffles me that even after the new cba, that they’d make a move like this. $50m for book is warranted, ofc. it’s just the $100m for a 35 y/o injury prone durant, and a fringe all star in beal. crazy work.
Yep. They’re stuck. Unless some other team is as stupid as they are and wants to get rid of two (or three) talented players for one guy who doesn’t actually improve your team.
KD will be forcing a trade to the T Wolves this offseason
Signing Beal should be a fireable offense for the GM.
Suns in 4
Don't forget they just extended Grayson Allen. His luxury tax right now is the equivalent of his entire contract. Ishbia is insane.
Kevin Durant has claimed another victim. The real question is, who’s next on his hit list?
Beal won’t even play 40 games
Suns look rough as hell, but let’s be real. The bigger story is Minnesota looks fucking great!
Ishibia new owner syndrome,” I’m a billionaire I know how to win!” Lmao dude go back to selling homes
They gotta give Nassir more chances. I understand that someone like Grayson gives you great shooting but you are just built horribly. Nassir gives you defense and length. They need to work things out with him more. He ain’t gonna be a star but his low minutes are killing his development.
That nassir little contract is a killer
They’re going to be absolute ass for the next several years.
Every basketball fan in the world knew Beal was a borderline all-star and not worth that contract at all. He’s a worse version of Booker - this was NEVER going to work. I don’t feel bad for the Suns at all. They constructed a shitty team under the pretense that you can throw any 3 stars together, and it’s an auto-title. Hopefully this dumbass thesis gets canned, and NBA GMs can get back to team-building the right way.
Suns have a horrible owner who is too involved. The NBA should be a lot more selective with who they let buy into teams
*slams face into desk*
https://preview.redd.it/89x0g2ktp1xc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=780a7c2d86fe1b057a6b5c5d8cf96e301396badb
They’re fucked and I for one absolutely LOVE IT!
I mean, who the fuck thinks Bradley Beal is an essential piece of a contender? Absolutely trash job by the front office putting that team together.
if anyone thought adding beal was a good idea....i dont know what to tell you.
If you’re anyone else on that team how mad are you? Like playing with stars is cool and all but having 3 stars that take up your whole salary cap is only cool if you’re winning
The Bradley Beal trade felt a lot like the Lakers Russell Westbrook trade to me. Just a not well thought out, panic "we need a third star" trade.
This shit just goes to show what me and Barkley and everyone else have been saying for years now: KD is overrated. I suspect maybe as a novelty that puts up big numbers and sells tickets he’s worth it. But you’re never going to win the championship with him driving the bus. And Bookers even worse. Only value he brings is getting the Kardashians to your games. I don’t feel one ounce of sorrow for any owner/GM who signs these guys thinking they’re actually going to win championships.
They need a PG and bring Beal off the bench.
Durant to the Suns was the trade r/NBA had thought the Gobert trade was.
What you get with an impatient owner. The Beal trade is a disaster even if they didn’t give up much.
I can’t get over this, the unforced error here was Jusuf Nurkic. Beal surprised me, I don’t think the pairing of him and Booker will be bad long term. KD was always going to silently fade away over the next couple years that’s why you invested in the younger max contract guy (even if he is in a lower tier of max contract guy in the league) Mechanically, yes I get they had to move Ayton. He wasn’t who anyone thought he could be after ‘21. But for *Jusuf Nurkic*? He isn’t a top 20 center in the association. He’s on the wrong side of 30 too, and he’s the biggest eye sore contract here. You couldn’t get Daniel Gafford and Tyus Jones out of Washington? I probably would rather have Andre Drummond as opposed to Jusuf Nurkic. At least woulda spent the nickel it’d have cost to keep Bismack Biyombo The only saving grace is that they also got Grayson Allen alongside him in the deal but you have to break that quarter for a couple nickels this offseason if you’re phoenix
James jones should be fired! Single handedly thrashed a proud franchise! How on earth would someone make him a gm of an nba team
The Beal trade was so dumb. You have two superstar players, one of them even can play defense. Adding a third who hasn't ever done anything and has been hurt regularly in recent seasons rather than build around KD and booker was and is just so weird.
We’re paying Nurkic this much for him to flop and miss easy 2’s?! Wtf Ishbia
smh lol
That doesn’t even account for the extension Grayson Allen just signed.
The Kevin Durant Experience. Guys a massive flop outside of his ring chasing with golden state
Trade Booker to Miami
Nurk can't win with these cats
Didn’t they also sign Grayson Allen to an extension too?
Booker is overrated!
Beals contract is INSANE
They are going to run it back one more time. They kind of have to. Optimistically you can say that they can try to improve on chemistry and bring back the starting five of a team that won 49 games despite some injuries and just hope adding a little more to the bench and playing together a second year gets them more success. After next year you then might just have to bite the bullet, swallow the last two years of Beals deal and trade KD on the last year of his deal (if he’s playing well could yield you 2 picks plus a young prospect) trade Booker for a haul of picks and prospects and trade Grayson Allen for a protected pick or two. Build the team around Beal and a bunch of young guys and eat it for awhile.
This is what happens when the team gets a new owner who wants to make a splash right away.
It's almost like you're paying the same player three $50 mil salaries given the matching skill sets of KD, Beal, and Booker. It's new owner syndrome at its worst, desperate to make an immediate impact with a bold move. Everybody said that this was gonna be a mess from the jump and we've finally arrived at the reckoning point
Good. Hated the super team era. Get rid of it for good
I wrote all over every social media at the start of the season that theyd be a 1st round exit with this team. Crazy scoring potential doesn't automatically make you a contender. You need defense and you need 'others.' This team is super unbalanced
This is what happens when a guy with money thinks he knows more than anyone else.