Suns’ Bradley Beal lineup swap shows desperate urgency and that the end is near

The Phoenix Suns have arrived at their point of no return.

They are moving Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic to the bench, per Chris Haynes. It is a decision that is irreversible, an admittance they are at their wit’s end with this roster and willing to go out guns blazing in the process for two guys who aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Beal has been catching strays for weeks, ever since Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler dyed his hair orange shortly after it was reported the Suns were at the top of his trade destination wish list. That didn’t really matter, because the only feasible deal would involve Beal, who is one of the most untradable players in the league.

Beal is due $50.1 million this season, $53.6 million next year and $57.1 million for the 2026-27 season through a player option he is going to pick up. Even if Phoenix could facilitate a third team into the deal that was willing to take on Beal’s salary, he’s not going there. And he can make that happen because of his no-trade clause, unless his new demotion upsets him enough to be content with a non-contending situation.

But Miami does not want his salary, and to be honest, there isn’t a rebuilding team that would want it, either. The reality of Phoenix being unable to trade Beal was one it knew it signed up for as soon as he was acquired 18 months ago.

All of this was brought to the forefront thanks to Butler’s latest public crash-out, which surely has affected team dynamics to some capacity. Butler’s availability came at a time when the Suns entered a free fall, morphing into one of the worst teams in the NBA after beginning the year 9-2.

Injuries have affected the team’s rhythm. Injuries have not affected its severe drop in defensive engagement and abandoning some of the offensive principles put forth by the coaching staff.

Bradley Beal’s benching now gets complicated for Suns

In a vacuum, Beal has played well. He bounced around into his latest role this year, embracing on-ball defense and filling in the gaps elsewhere. Where he has struggled the most, and part of why this move has become necessary, is that Beal’s having too much trouble with the incredibly difficult flip of a switch from Role Player Bradley Beal to 30-Point-Per-Game Bradley Beal.

And for the second straight season, he has been unable to stay healthy enough to build off when his impact on the floor starts to click into place. Phoenix has already had five separate stretches without him and would have had six in Saturday’s loss had Beal just not played through a hip contusion that had him limping most of the night.

For a fine-tuned role that has to be executed at an extremely high level, that’s impossible to perfect during an in-and-out dance.

What does his role look like now? No clue. And guess what, I’m not alone in that thought. Beal’s having the same one.

But the bottom line is when Phoenix signed Tyus Jones, it was another one that was less of a basketball move and more of a confession. It was giving up on the backcourt with Beal and Devin Booker. Just one year after the Suns cratered their short-term and long-term flexibility to form it.

This year’s disaster has increased the urgency.

Last year, Beal and Booker together on the court meant the Suns were outscoring teams by 5.7 points per 100 possessions, per NBA Stats. That’s doable. This year, Phoenix is getting outscored by -13.7 points per 100 possessions, a net rating drop-off of nearly 20.

For everything Beal is doing right in the glue guy department, he has the worst net rating when on the court (-9.3) and Phoenix’s best when off it (3.3). Those aren’t numbers to base moves of this magnitude off of, but Beal’s 17.8 points per game on 48% shooting with fairly reliable energy isn’t helping the Suns win.

There are teams that would have just kept starting Beal, knowing he’s got two-and-a-half seasons to go in Phoenix. But the Suns want to fire every shot before this thing goes belly up.

And the overwhelming odds are that’s their fate in the near future.

The CBA rules within extension talks for Kevin Durant limited Phoenix to doing just one added year a few months ago instead of the desired two for both parties, according to Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro. The two-year extension can happen this summer.

Do the Suns still want to do that if they fail to make the conference finals for the fourth straight year holding championship expectations? Does Durant?

That’s being generous. This isn’t a playoff team at the moment, and some swaps in the lineup won’t snap everything into place. Trading their 2031 unprotected first-round pick for another capable rotation piece also will not make that happen. It’s on Booker and Durant to clean up all the issues we won’t waste any time covering, the ones from last year that have bled into this season. This is clearly no longer about coaching, point guards or a supporting cast.

That transformation is hard to do in the first week of January.

Nurkic joins Beal where, in more ideal circumstances, Phoenix would have traded both due to the questionable fits they provide. This wasn’t as much of a concern last season after more-than-fine contributions from Nurkic before his play this year became incredibly volatile and untenable.

He’s under contract for $19.3 million next season, a decent-enough-sized deal to get off in the summer with assets attached. The Suns are triple-checking under the cushions to see if they have any more assets they could attach to Nurkic to do so. It would require a significant dent into that barren war chest.

The crazy part of this is the incoming solutions aren’t that great. Rookie Ryan Dunn has proven himself enough to demand rotation minutes but defenses are sagging off him immensely to clog up Phoenix’s spacing. Mason Plumlee only further amplifies that issue, and while it’s not as much a roller coaster as Nurkic’s minutes, it’s still the same ride.

And in the event the Suns “blow it up,” Beal will be a significant part of the future Suns teams. Nurkic will probably be next year, too. That’s a bit awkward.

If there’s anything to take out of these events, it’s to brace for impact. Rosters built around blockbuster moves rarely go out in a flutter. They self-implode in spectacular fashion.

Have you taken shelter yet?

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