The Official 2025 Offseason Thread #4 Free Agency Opens!

[Fo-Real]

There has to be something going on or wrong with this Beal buyout. Its not like the numbers can change between he and the Suns. If he were keen on doing it, waiting to do it makes no sense since nothing can change on our end. What is the hold up? Has something changed? Is he deciding not to give up anything? Is there some kind of a deal out there that is being pondered?

He is searching for a team that will give him the biggest MLE he can find. That team needs to be in a location he likes and also have a shot at a chip. Obviously the Clips make sense but they only have $5M to offer and the Suns certainly aren't waiving him unless they can get under the 2nd apron. So Beal has to swallow a $12M-5M loss ... About $7M. My guess is Beal and his agent botched up the early buyout offer and didn't take it when full MLEs were on the board. Too bad for Bradley.

We are gonna wind up having to keep him.

[BobbieL]

Waiving Richards would have been asset management malpractice.
Whether we want to believe it or not, since the team has no intent to tank, stretching Beal gives the team the best chance to move pieces around more freely while adding (hopefully) younger, cheaper, parts
We need to see what the team does after waiving Beal. I don't believe Richards starts the season with us.

But trading 2 FRPs for a player in Williams who has an injury history is good use of assets - especially when you drafted a Center

My point again is - they could have made decisions that didn't rely on Bradley Beal taking a buyout. Now he can basically tell them to turn it sideways and they are in a pretty tough spot. Ishbia blew his was -- two FRPs picks for Williams; a bunch of SRPs to get Fleming.

Beal drives the negotiation because Ishbia gave him the keys.

Late FRPs for Williams is a great deal, especially with the Suns history of drafting. If Mark Williams stays healthy he is a great asset long term for the Suns.

Williams is a walking double double and has longer standing reach than Wemby!

Having 2 good Centers isn't a bad thing especially for big men. Williams, Maluach, and Richards can all play 20 minutes a night! We will have depth and that is great.

You missed the point. The Suns could have made different decisions this off-season and wouldn't have needed to have Beal take a buyout to get below apron levels.

[BobbieL]

There has to be something going on or wrong with this Beal buyout. Its not like the numbers can change between he and the Suns. If he were keen on doing it, waiting to do it makes no sense since nothing can change on our end. What is the hold up? Has something changed? Is he deciding not to give up anything? Is there some kind of a deal out there that is being pondered?

He is searching for a team that will give him the biggest MLE he can find. That team needs to be in a location he likes and also have a shot at a chip. Obviously the Clips make sense but they only have $5M to offer and the Suns certainly aren't waiving him unless they can get under the 2nd apron. So Beal has to swallow a $12M-5M loss ... About $7M. My guess is Beal and his agent botched up the early buyout offer and didn't take it when full MLEs were on the board. Too bad for Bradley.

Edit: Also, Suns can waive/stretch him until August 31. So that is likely a hard deadline. Maybe we have another 45 days of this nonsense.

Name one team that was going to give Bradley Beal the $14m MLE?

I personally had Beal in the 8-10m range and signing a 1+1 with the second year being a club option. Beal doesn't have to swallow any loss. He is owed $110m.

[TeamTragic]

There has to be something going on or wrong with this Beal buyout. Its not like the numbers can change between he and the Suns. If he were keen on doing it, waiting to do it makes no sense since nothing can change on our end. What is the hold up? Has something changed? Is he deciding not to give up anything? Is there some kind of a deal out there that is being pondered?

He is searching for a team that will give him the biggest MLE he can find. That team needs to be in a location he likes and also have a shot at a chip. Obviously the Clips make sense but they only have $5M to offer and the Suns certainly aren't waiving him unless they can get under the 2nd apron. So Beal has to swallow a $12M-5M loss ... About $7M. My guess is Beal and his agent botched up the early buyout offer and didn't take it when full MLEs were on the board. Too bad for Bradley.

Edit: Also, Suns can waive/stretch him until August 31. So that is likely a hard deadline. Maybe we have another 45 days of this nonsense.

Name one team that was going to give Bradley Beal the $14m MLE?

I personally had Beal in the 8-10m range and signing a 1+1 with the second year being a club option. Beal doesn't have to swallow any loss. He is owed $110m.

I thought everyone was saying that Beal was going to "light it up" and we should pay 230M in luxury tax to keep him.

You mean to tell me no team wants him for 14M?

[PhxLax]

Exactly... That's really what's going on. Team Beal botched this thing thinking teams are lining up to sign him when in reality nobody has the cap space or the money he wants, at least none of the championship playoff teams. He thought he'd get the full MLE but realizing all these teams just wanna throw the minimum $$ at him or straight up don't want him as their rosters are mostly set. So he's like, screw this, I'm going home.

I think what will happen is Beal will be asked to stay away from the team. The Suns will likely sign a veteran minimum point guard and simply rock with 14-man roster (with Stay-At-Home Beal taking up the 15th spot).

Plus, better to waive-stretch Beal NEXT season at just 3 years spread with 16-18 million which is not a problem at all.

[BobbieL]

He is searching for a team that will give him the biggest MLE he can find. That team needs to be in a location he likes and also have a shot at a chip. Obviously the Clips make sense but they only have $5M to offer and the Suns certainly aren't waiving him unless they can get under the 2nd apron. So Beal has to swallow a $12M-5M loss ... About $7M. My guess is Beal and his agent botched up the early buyout offer and didn't take it when full MLEs were on the board. Too bad for Bradley.

Edit: Also, Suns can waive/stretch him until August 31. So that is likely a hard deadline. Maybe we have another 45 days of this nonsense.

Name one team that was going to give Bradley Beal the $14m MLE?

I personally had Beal in the 8-10m range and signing a 1+1 with the second year being a club option. Beal doesn't have to swallow any loss. He is owed $110m.

I thought everyone was saying that Beal was going to "light it up" and we should pay 230M in luxury tax to keep him.

You mean to tell me no team wants him for 14M?

Disingenuous response.

You know the reasons people wanted to keep Beal. And it wasn't so much about keeping Beal as it was not making a short term issue a longer term issue

[TeamTragic]

Name one team that was going to give Bradley Beal the $14m MLE?

I personally had Beal in the 8-10m range and signing a 1+1 with the second year being a club option. Beal doesn't have to swallow any loss. He is owed $110m.

I thought everyone was saying that Beal was going to "light it up" and we should pay 230M in luxury tax to keep him.

You mean to tell me no team wants him for 14M?

Disingenuous response.

You know the reasons people wanted to keep Beal. And it wasn't so much about keeping Beal as it was not making a short term issue a longer term issue

Nope. Reddit was saying he was going to light it up on a different team.

Apparently he is not worth 14M per year. I guess maybe Beal needs to take a look in the mirror.

[BobbieL]

I thought everyone was saying that Beal was going to "light it up" and we should pay 230M in luxury tax to keep him.

You mean to tell me no team wants him for 14M?

Disingenuous response.

You know the reasons people wanted to keep Beal. And it wasn't so much about keeping Beal as it was not making a short term issue a longer term issue

Nope. Reddit was saying he was going to light it up on a different team.

Apparently he is not worth 14M per year. I guess maybe Beal needs to take a look in the mirror.

And if Beal doesn't take the buyout -- how does that affect the Suns with respect to being above the apron levels, penalties paid, etc?

Meaning, if he doesn't accept the buyout proposal - -is it Beals fault that the team could have to pay high penalties, be a repeater, possibly have the 2032 draft pick fall to the bottom of the first round?

The season ended on April 15 - by June 1 - Ishbia should have known exactly where he stood with Bradley Beal.

[Rebound Mound]

Beal's main reason not to be traded before the end of the in-season period was that he did not want to relocate his family, mainly thinking about his kids changing schools...
Not it seems like they are taking their time to find a new place they can call home and find a new school, which should be just 50 days away...

[Saberestar]

Zach Lowe said on his podcast today that he thinks that Beal will sign with the Clippers next week.

[Sunsdeuce]

Name one team that was going to give Bradley Beal the $14m MLE?

I personally had Beal in the 8-10m range and signing a 1+1 with the second year being a club option. Beal doesn't have to swallow any loss. He is owed $110m.

I thought everyone was saying that Beal was going to "light it up" and we should pay 230M in luxury tax to keep him.

You mean to tell me no team wants him for 14M?

Disingenuous response.

You know the reasons people wanted to keep Beal. And it wasn't so much about keeping Beal as it was not making a short term issue a longer term issue

Bingo and Bingo. Everyone knew he’s stats were going to take a hit when he came here since he wasn’t going to be the #1 option anymore.

And secondly, buying him out for two years is more about long term and having the ability to fix this team after 2 years rather than putting this team in purgatory for the next 5 years. It’s about have a long term plan rather than worrying about having the ability to sign a MLE player and being excited about that prospect for the next five years as your best option (that apparently a lot of people are creaming their pants about being able to get a TMLE or MLE for the next five years rather than being able to sign a star in two years from now. Whatevers!

It’s about short term pain vs long term pain and having an actual plan.

[TeamTragic]

So where is that KD extension that was promised by the Rockets?

[BobbieL]

I thought everyone was saying that Beal was going to "light it up" and we should pay 230M in luxury tax to keep him.

You mean to tell me no team wants him for 14M?

Disingenuous response.

You know the reasons people wanted to keep Beal. And it wasn't so much about keeping Beal as it was not making a short term issue a longer term issue

Bingo and Bingo. Everyone knew he’s stats were going to take a hit when he came here since he wasn’t going to be the #1 option anymore.

And secondly, buying him out for two years is more about long term and having the ability to fix this team after 2 years rather than putting this team in purgatory for the next 5 years. It’s about have a long term plan rather than worrying about having the ability to sign a MLE player and being excited about that prospect for the next five years as your best option (that apparently a lot of people are creaming their pants about being able to get a TMLE or MLE for the next five years rather than being able to sign a star in two years from now. Whatevers!

It’s about short term pain vs long term pain and having an actual plan.

Only one player on the team had any leverage. Even Durant and Booker didn't have the leverage Beal had. And yet, Ishbia made moves that have put him in a corner. Like Mark Williams - he didn't need to trade for Mark Williams on draft night - he could have waited.

LI made the comparison that the difference in value between a max player and the MLE is much greater than the vet minimum player and the MLE. But people just want a dopamine hit, "we signed a player!!!!"

And again, when you do the math, that TPMLE player actually costs $24m and not $5m because of the Beal numbers.

[bigfoot]

Disingenuous response.

You know the reasons people wanted to keep Beal. And it wasn't so much about keeping Beal as it was not making a short term issue a longer term issue

Bingo and Bingo. Everyone knew he’s stats were going to take a hit when he came here since he wasn’t going to be the #1 option anymore.

And secondly, buying him out for two years is more about long term and having the ability to fix this team after 2 years rather than putting this team in purgatory for the next 5 years. It’s about have a long term plan rather than worrying about having the ability to sign a MLE player and being excited about that prospect for the next five years as your best option (that apparently a lot of people are creaming their pants about being able to get a TMLE or MLE for the next five years rather than being able to sign a star in two years from now. Whatevers!

It’s about short term pain vs long term pain and having an actual plan.

Only one player on the team had any leverage. Even Durant and Booker didn't have the leverage Beal had. And yet, Ishbia made moves that have put him in a corner. Like Mark Williams - he didn't need to trade for Mark Williams on draft night - he could have waited.

LI made the comparison that the difference in value between a max player and the MLE is much greater than the vet minimum player and the MLE. But people just want a dopamine hit, "we signed a player!!!!"

And again, when you do the math, that TPMLE player actually costs $24m and not $5m because of the Beal numbers.

Mark Williams trade didn't put them in a corner. Deadline for the team option on Vasilije Micic was June 29, four days after the draft. The Suns could have waited exactly four days to make the Williams trade but didn't. However, Beal wasn't taking a buyout until the free agency period started which was on June 30th. Williams and Beal deals were mutually exclusive. Timing was everything in this scenario.

The Suns improved the team's center position which was the correct move regardless of the Beal situation.

[BobbieL]

Bingo and Bingo. Everyone knew he’s stats were going to take a hit when he came here since he wasn’t going to be the #1 option anymore.

And secondly, buying him out for two years is more about long term and having the ability to fix this team after 2 years rather than putting this team in purgatory for the next 5 years. It’s about have a long term plan rather than worrying about having the ability to sign a MLE player and being excited about that prospect for the next five years as your best option (that apparently a lot of people are creaming their pants about being able to get a TMLE or MLE for the next five years rather than being able to sign a star in two years from now. Whatevers!

It’s about short term pain vs long term pain and having an actual plan.

Only one player on the team had any leverage. Even Durant and Booker didn't have the leverage Beal had. And yet, Ishbia made moves that have put him in a corner. Like Mark Williams - he didn't need to trade for Mark Williams on draft night - he could have waited.

LI made the comparison that the difference in value between a max player and the MLE is much greater than the vet minimum player and the MLE. But people just want a dopamine hit, "we signed a player!!!!"

And again, when you do the math, that TPMLE player actually costs $24m and not $5m because of the Beal numbers.

Mark Williams trade didn't put them in a corner. Deadline for the team option on Vasilije Micic was June 29, four days after the draft. The Suns could have waited exactly four days to make the Williams trade but didn't. However, Beal wasn't taking a buyout until the free agency period started which was on June 30th. Williams and Beal deals were mutually exclusive. Timing was everything in this scenario.

The Suns improved the team's center position which was the correct move regardless of the Beal situation.

If Ishbia had declined the option on Micic, released Richards and Martin - would the Suns be closer to clearing the aprons than they are today?

Ishbia took the decisions he had 100% control over and gave those decisions to Bradley Beal.

I understand the need for the Center - but I personally think getting below apron levels would have been step 1 this offseason. This is where not having an owner cosplaying as GM is actually hurting Ishbia's goal of winning an NBA title. If Bob Myers wanted the job he should have given him the job and got the F out of the way

[Puff]

Only one player on the team had any leverage. Even Durant and Booker didn't have the leverage Beal had. And yet, Ishbia made moves that have put him in a corner. Like Mark Williams - he didn't need to trade for Mark Williams on draft night - he could have waited.

LI made the comparison that the difference in value between a max player and the MLE is much greater than the vet minimum player and the MLE. But people just want a dopamine hit, "we signed a player!!!!"

And again, when you do the math, that TPMLE player actually costs $24m and not $5m because of the Beal numbers.

Mark Williams trade didn't put them in a corner. Deadline for the team option on Vasilije Micic was June 29, four days after the draft. The Suns could have waited exactly four days to make the Williams trade but didn't. However, Beal wasn't taking a buyout until the free agency period started which was on June 30th. Williams and Beal deals were mutually exclusive. Timing was everything in this scenario.

The Suns improved the team's center position which was the correct move regardless of the Beal situation.

If Ishbia had declined the option on Micic, released Richards and Martin - would the Suns be closer to clearing the aprons than they are today?

Ishbia took the decisions he had 100% control over and gave those decisions to Bradley Beal.

I understand the need for the Center - but I personally think getting below apron levels would have been step 1 this offseason. This is where not having an owner cosplaying as GM is actually hurting Ishbia's goal of winning an NBA title. If Bob Myers wanted the job he should have given him the job and got the F out of the way

You guys just do not get it.

Beal was gone long before this past season ended. He was a bad fit and was always injured along with needing his salary off the payroll. He is and has been untradeable with his salary and NTC. Even if we would have traded him it would have been for salaries that we did not want. The best solution for the upcoming season was and is still waive and stretch. Surely it could hurt us down the road, but our big spender owner will pay to go over the 2nd apron again, hopefully not for a guy that always seems to have some sort of injury. He just sits on the bench with no apparent connection to the team. Gambo was saying it months before the end of the season.

We had an opportunity to get Williams, and we went for it. We did not think Maluach would be there at 10 and that Rasheed would be there at 29.

I am really excited to watch Williams, Maluach, Rasheed, Green, Koby, Dunn, Oso and maybe Richards, along with any other additions we might make. I repeat, I am excited about the next season and hopefully I do not have to watch Bradley Beal play another minute for the Phoenix Suns. I wish him good luck with whichever team he chooses as long as it is not us.

[Weemsickew14]

I have had my eye on one scenario that seems possible with how the Suns have been operating this offseason and it is here as follows:

-Waive Beal & he surrenders the roughly 14m to get us under the second apron
-Sign & trade Grayson Allen + draft capital to the Warriors for Jonathan Kuminga on a 3 or 4 year contract at roughly 20-25m AAV

I think this is possible due to the fact that the Warriors do not want Kuminga and generally sign & trades do not net much in return for the team losing the free agent. Now, I am a little hesitant on Kuminga's fit due to him not being a great floor spacer and not being the highest of IQ players, but the desire our front office has shown of being young, athletic, and fast does make this seem like a possible outcome. Again, whether it works out is tbd but I would really enjoy watching these guys play and we would have several new pieces with an incredible amount of upside that I do believe Jordan Ott can unlock.

[BobbieL]

Mark Williams trade didn't put them in a corner. Deadline for the team option on Vasilije Micic was June 29, four days after the draft. The Suns could have waited exactly four days to make the Williams trade but didn't. However, Beal wasn't taking a buyout until the free agency period started which was on June 30th. Williams and Beal deals were mutually exclusive. Timing was everything in this scenario.

The Suns improved the team's center position which was the correct move regardless of the Beal situation.

If Ishbia had declined the option on Micic, released Richards and Martin - would the Suns be closer to clearing the aprons than they are today?

Ishbia took the decisions he had 100% control over and gave those decisions to Bradley Beal.

I understand the need for the Center - but I personally think getting below apron levels would have been step 1 this offseason. This is where not having an owner cosplaying as GM is actually hurting Ishbia's goal of winning an NBA title. If Bob Myers wanted the job he should have given him the job and got the F out of the way

You guys just do not get it.

Beal was gone long before this past season ended. He was a bad fit and was always injured along with needing his salary off the payroll. He is and has been untradeable with his salary and NTC. Even if we would have traded him it would have been for salaries that we did not want. The best solution for the upcoming season was and is still waive and stretch. Surely it could hurt us down the road, but our big spender owner will pay to go over the 2nd apron again, hopefully not for a guy that always seems to have some sort of injury. He just sits on the bench with no apparent connection to the team. Gambo was saying it months before the end of the season.

We had an opportunity to get Williams, and we went for it. We did not think Maluach would be there at 10 and that Rasheed would be there at 29.

I am really excited to watch Williams, Maluach, Rasheed, Green, Koby, Dunn, Oso and maybe Richards, along with any other additions we might make. I repeat, I am excited about the next season and hopefully I do not have to watch Bradley Beal play another minute for the Phoenix Suns. I wish him good luck with whichever team he chooses as long as it is not us.

And if Beal doesn't take the buyout - and the Suns are over the second apron, they cannot combine players in trades, the 2032 FRP will drop to the end of the first round - you would be good with that ?

Mat Ishbia doesn't control whether Beal takes the buyout. Personally, I would have had my ducks in a row to make sure I am under every apron level that I want to achieve before taking on salary. Ishbia took on salary when he needed to move $25+m

[TeamTragic]

Beal has already indicated that he is willing to accept a buyout. He just has to find a team that wants to sign him.

This would also impact how much he needs to give back in the buyout. Clearly he is in for a rude awakening.

[DirtyDez]

Beal has already indicated that he is willing to accept a buyout. He just has to find a team that wants to sign him.

This would also impact how much he needs to give back in the buyout. Clearly he is in for a rude awakening.

He is not giving up anymore than is required for the Suns to get under the 15% dead money limit. Probably down to the cent.