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The Phoenix Suns and Bradley Beal have officially agreed to a contract buyout on Wednesday, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. Beal will receive his more than $50 million annual salary for the upcoming season. The insider is also reporting that Beal will sign a two-year, $11 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.
BREAKING: Three-time NBA All-Star Bradley Beal has agreed to a contract buyout with the Phoenix Suns and plans to join the Los Angeles Clippers on a two-year, $11 million deal with a player option after clearing waivers, Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports told ESPN. pic.twitter.com/gxZB0ObSms
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 16, 2025
While some thought there were other options (stretch and waiver or waiving his no-trade clause), the franchise believed this was the best-case scenario. However, the team has until the end of August to stretch and waiver Beal.
According ClutchPoints NBA insider Brett Siegel, the Suns are expected to stretch and waiver the former shooting guard. Phoenix would take on $19.4 million each season over the next five years as a dead cap hit.
The organization is ripping the band-aid off a tumultuous two seasons. In Beal's first year, the Suns were swept in the opening round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Still, he only played 53 games that season, a worrying sign of what was to come.
Then, in his second season with the team, Mike Budenholzer stepped in as head coach and made some interesting moves. One of the main ones was the Suns' benching of Bradley Beal at the start of 2025.
While the latter took it in stride, it was an uncomfortable sign, considering that he was making close to $50 million, for him to come off the bench.
Towards the end of the season, and with the Suns trading for Jalen Green, courtesy of moving Kevin Durant, the writing was starting to appear on the wall.
Having three guards in the lineup and potentially having an even-worse Big 3 without Durant isn't a good look.
Hypotheticals highlighted Bradley Beal's time with the Suns
No one will truly know how good the previous Suns Big 3 with Beal, Durant, and Devin Booker could have been. There was a beaming light with only Durant and Booker.
However, once Beal was added to the mix, it created a seismic shift in the offensive chemistry. All three players have similar skill sets, and didn't necessarily complement well off one another.
Still, the biggest what-if was if everyone stayed healthy.
As mentioned earlier, Beal only played 53 games in 2023-24, and it was the same a year later. There was never a true chance to showcase the dynamic of the three stars on a consistent nightly basis.
This prior season, the team went a combined 19-18 with the three stars playing together.
It felt as if Beal was the odd man out, considering what happened with Booker and Durant a season before Beal arrived in Phoenix.
Either way, the band-aid coming off stings, but it's better than an alternative where he's eating up the cap sheet for four or five seasons.
Safe to say that the Bradley Beal in Phoenix experiment flopped as badly as it can get. Still, plenty of contending teams could have used a scorer and a veteran presence like him, and now the Clippers get to try to get the most out of the polarizing superstar.
