Windhorst: Suns want Bradley Beal feeling unwelcome so he lifts no-trade clause

Bradley Beal said he’s gotten no indication the Phoenix Suns want to move on from him. He said so after he was removed from the starting lineup Monday night, referencing his no-trade clause as the hurdle the team would need to get past if they were ready to move on.

“If so, I need to be addressed because I hold the cards,” Beal told reporters in Philadelphia. “Until I’m addressed and somebody says something differently, then I’m going to be a Sun.”

Facts.

But those in league circles apparently aren’t believing the Suns’ move of Beal to the bench starting in a win against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday was about the on-court product, even though there’s an argument that it should help schematically.

“Let me put those rumors on Beal to rest,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Tuesday on First Take. “They absolutely are trying to trade Bradley Beal. One of the cardinal rules in sports … is you never devalue your players, your assets. … They put him on the bench. You may say, ‘Why would you do that?’

“That’s because, guys, this situation is bleeped. The reason it’s bleeped is … the only way they can trade him is if he says, ‘I’m OK to be traded.’ So instead of trying to build him up, they have to violate the cardinal rule and put him on the bench. … They’re basically trying to make him feel unwelcome in Phoenix so that he will waive that no-trade clause. The player they want to trade him for is Jimmy Butler, but the Heat don’t want Bradley Beal.”

 

Butler is serving a seven-game suspension with the Miami Heat because of his admitted unhappiness on his current team. He wants a long-term deal and holds a player option for $52.4 million after finishing this season.

With that, Miami is likely not going to get much in a trade, though they could opt to hold onto him for the rest of the season for salary cap relief.

Why is Butler angling himself toward the Suns, as Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro has reported?

Windhorst believes the Suns would extend Jimmy Butler after a Bradley Beal trade

Windhorst said the Suns are willing to extend Butler if they were somehow able to work out a trade to acquire him.

“We have a big problem here,” Windhorst said. “Jimmy Butler isn’t going to extend with any team. … There’s only one team that is ready to pay Jimmy Butler exactly what he wants, and that’s the Phoenix Suns.”

And oddly enough, that is the team that could have the hardest time trading for him, Windhorst adds.

According to Gambadoro, there is believed to be a select group of teams Beal would be willing to waive his no-trade clause for. Some believe the Detroit Pistons could make sense as a Beal landing spot if the Suns search for a way to acquire Butler.

Detroit is .500, has future cap flexibility and just lost guard Jaden Ivey for months with a broken fibula, leaving a guard spot open alongside Cade Cunningham.

Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem is the father of current Suns assistant general manager Matt Tellem, and current Suns CEO and president Josh Bartelstein previously worked in Detroit’s front office under Tellem.

Speaking of connections, Bartelstein’s father, Mark Bartelstein, is Beal’s agent.

The lines of communication for the players to get a feel for potential moves could be as close as a family dinner.

At some point, someone just needs to give Beal the word to find out what’s on his mind.

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