The 2022-23 season has only been concluded for about a week now, but already the rumor mill is churning at full speed, and star guard Bradley Beal has been found at the center of its spin.

Per reports by Josh Robbins of The Athletic, there are many league executives who seem to believe that the Wizards could be willing to partake in a full-out rebuild this coming summer which, should this happen, it is being reported that the organization would be willing to work with Beal to find a suitable landing spot in a trade.

With this, rumblings have been surfacing left and right regarding the interest of a bevy of teams across the association in pursuing the 29-year-old, and Robbins has mentioned that the Phoenix Suns, in particular, is an organization that may be willing to offer up a massive haul in exchange for the star's services.

“Phoenix would send center Deandre Ayton and additional cap filler or include future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul and Landry Shamet to the Wizards for Beal,” Robbins' report read.

Of course, there are many ways to view the aforementioned trade scenario.

On the one hand, it involves a plethora of high-end names changing zip codes which, in turn, is bound to generate a substantial amount of buzz.

On the other, however, name recognition does not always play into the value a team places upon players, for fit both in a club's scheme and trajectory usually has a heavy influence.

With this in mind, today we examine the proposed hypothetical trade for both the Wizards and Suns and grade it on a scale from A to F.

Examining the Bradley Beal trade for the Suns

It goes without saying that this Phoenix Suns team is going more than all in on a championship push, and, in most cases, star power appears to be all the rage for such organizations.

Already in possession of superstar Kevin Durant and perennial All-Star Devin Booker, the franchise is seemingly set with such assets. However, Robbins' report suggests the Suns are interested in creating the league's newest Big 3 by acquiring Bradley Beal via trade.

On paper, this assortment of talent appears to be incredibly menacing and, if it were NBA 2K, they'd be viewed as perhaps the most unfair club to play as.

However, in reality, though the concept of acquiring Beal would give the team a ferocious three-man punch upfront, as cliche as it sounds, basketball is a team sport.

We've already witnessed Phoenix attempt to create a title-worthy star trio with Chris Paul, Booker, and Durant this past season, though, to attain the latter, it cost the team a substantial portion of their depth which, as a result, proved to be their Achilles heal during the playoffs.

Now, Robbins suggests GM James Jones is willing to offload even more of their already lackluster depth in the form of two key starters, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton?

Just as Bradley Beal has been mentioned as a player who could realistically be on the move this summer, so, too, have the likes of CP3 and Ayton, so seeing their names mentioned in this hypothetical shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

That said, considering their need for depth, the Suns should be looking to use one of, if not both of these players to better fill out their roster around Durant and Booker rather than attempting to piece them together for just one individual, regardless of how talented he may be.

Add in the fact that Phoenix has struggled mightily with injuries over the last few seasons, and saw their latest iteration of a star trio all receive significant chomps from the injury bug, and the idea of bringing on a guy like Bradley Beal who has missed a total of 86 games over the last three seasons due to varying health-related ailments becomes less and less logical.

Grade of hypothetical trade: C

Examining the Bradley Beal trade for the Wizards

Should the Washington Wizards commit to a rebuild, it's safe to assume that they'd be coveting two major luxuries in exchange for the likes of Bradley Beal: high-upside youthful players and draft capital.

Though Josh Robbins didn't specify any picks being involved in the exchange, one could easily fall under the assumption that, in the event of such an exchange, there would be a few heading out to D.C.

What is known, however, is that this hypothetical sees former number one pick Deandre Ayton heading to the Wizards to, in turn, likely serve as the club's building block pivot moving forward.

Still just 24 years old, the talented big man is just now at the age where he'll be entering the prime days of his career. Considering his impressive averages of 17.6 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists on 60.9% shooting from the field over the last two seasons, this should have interested teams excited about the upside he still possesses.

Having said that, despite this expectation of continued development, what must be noted is that Ayton is attached to a highly lucrative four-year, $132 million deal that spans through 2026.

Though he fits the desired “young talent” mold for rebuilding teams, his $33.2 million average annual salary certainly does not.

The Wizards would also be inflating their payroll even more for the 2023-24 campaign, as they'd be bringing on Chris Paul and his four-year, $120 million deal that is partially guaranteed through 2025.

Adding an extra $63 million between two players to an expected tanking team is simply not an ideal situation to be in from a financial perspective. That said, the concept of bringing on a young, multi-talented big man could be a nice way to set themselves up for a post-Beal era, so at least they'd have that as a plus from the transaction.

 

Grade of hypothetical trade: C+