Breaking news: Stephen A. Smith believes Bradley Beal's ongoing back injury should concern the Phoenix Suns.

On Wednesday morning's edition of First Take, the ESPN personality reacted to the Suns' disastrous last-second loss to Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs by forcefully questioning whether Beal—whose dealt with injury issues pretty much throughout his 11-year career—would ever be healthy enough to give Phoenix's celebrated Big Three some real on-court staying power.

“I gotta tell you something about this. I'm a big Bradley Beal fan. But since 2019 he's missed about 105 of the last 312 games, he missed about 32 games last year, he's only played 90 games in the last two seasons for crying out loud. And now they're talking about back injuries and they don't know when he'll be back. I'm starting to get really, really concerned. I need to see this guy on the court. I mean, damn! We've been talking about Phoenix and ballyhooing about what they're gonna do this year. Guess what? This may be who they are if Kevin Durant gotta be on the court by his damn self because people can't get healthy. Something's gotta give in Phoenix, eventually.”

Concern about Bradley Beal's back injury is warranted

Bradley Beal has been ruled out of the Suns' season opener against the Warriors

It's safe to say Smith isn't the only one worried by Beal's status. He's yet to play in 2023-24 while dealing nagging back issues, and reports indicate there's no definitive timetable for the three-time All-Star to finally make his Phoenix debut.

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The Suns are arguably the most top-heavy team in basketball this season, surrounding Durant, Beal and Devin Booker—who's been sidelined for every game but the opener due to an ankle sprain—with role players like Eric Gordon,  Jusuf Nurkic, Josh Okogie and well-trodden reserves who signed minimum contracts this summer. Phoenix has gotten some solid contributions from that supporting cast in the early going, but its championship hopes rest squarely with the Big Three being healthy when it matters most.

If there's a silver lining to Beal's current injury, it's that the Suns might have enough high-end talent to win multiple playoff series without having home-court advantage. But chemistry and continuity is still key to beating the league's best teams in the postseason, and every night Durant, Booker and Beal aren't playing together counts as a missed opportunity to develop it.

Beal's checkered injury history can't be overlooked here, either. What if his back injury lingers across the 82-game grind and into the playoffs, preventing him from playing anywhere near his established peak?

Phoenix needs to be clicking on all cylinders come spring to win that long elusive title. Even in that best-case scenario, they'd be decided underdogs against the dominant, defending-champion Denver Nuggets, and could also have trouble versus teams with more depth and familiarity like the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers. The revamped LA Clippers loom as a potential major threat to win the West, too.

There's no use in rushing Beal back before he's fully healthy, feeling like himself. The longer it takes, though, the longer the Suns' championship odds may get.