Bradley Beal taking up a 6th man role for the Phoenix Suns wasn’t on most fans’ bingo cards for the 2024-25 season. With PHX middling and failing to gain any momentum, Mike Budenholzer and his staff are of the belief that Beal being a spark plug offensive creator would be more beneficial. In the midst of it all, Kevin Durant gave his two cents on the matter.
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“Is it really a change?” questioned KD in regards to Beal’s new role. Durant ‘argues’ that the shooting guard is still getting his required touches, more or less. “You’re [Beal] still playing a lot of minutes, getting his shots up. Last 3 games, I just feel like he’s more comfortable.”
“Is it really a change?” Kevin Durant on Bradley Beal bench role.
“You’re still playing a lot of minutes, getting his shots up. Last 3 games, I just feel like he’s more comfortable and understands where his shots are going to come from.”
Thinks Beal just more aggressive. #Suns pic.twitter.com/qCWn0UNy5N
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) January 10, 2025
Since coming off the bench these past 3 days, Beal has had two very efficient and successful games. against the Pacers he dropped a team leading 25 points on 10-15 shooting from the field. Last night’s win over the Hawks saw him have 25 once more on 11-16 shooting. Both of these performances sandwiched a subpar 10 point outing in between.
The Suns are 2-1 in the Beal ‘benched’ era which is an incredibly small sample size but with the way the season was going for them, there could be something to this.
Many believed a star of Brad’s caliber would be scorned by being relegated to the bench. However, he’s taken rookie, Ryan Dunn, under his wing after Dunn was named to the starting lineup in place of him. “Brad’s a brother to me. He’s got my back and I got his. He’s a great teammate,” said Dunn.
Is there more to Beal’s new role?
It would be quite foolish of fans to believe Beal being moved to the bench was solely due to the Suns’ paltry record. Jimmy Butler wanting out of Miami most certainly had something to do with Phoenix’s sudden lineup change.
The former Wizards All-Star has a unique no-trade clause in his contract. This limits the Suns’ options to where he can be traded as Beal is the one who can approve of any trade destination.
So, it has been heavily speculated that Mat Ishbia’s front office has placed Beal in multiple uncomfortable situations like this to make him feel ‘unwanted’ in Phoenix. Him feeling this way would perhaps allow him to waive his no-trade clause thus leading to potential Butler dealings.
This is quite the complicated ordeal however. Bradley has stated clearly very recently that the Suns haven’t spoken to him face-to-face about any transactions. Jimmy is in his own battle with Pat Riley on the East Coast, something Riley has never faced from his superstars. Safe to say that this 2025 trade deadline will be quite the interesting watch.
