Things did not exactly go according to plan for Bradley Beal and the Phoenix Suns in last year’s NBA season, and now, one analyst is arguing that the Suns should make a rather drastic decision with Beal.
Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz feels that Beal should be benched in favor of Tyus Jones, who Phoenix signed in free agency.
Swartz qualifies his statement by stating that Jones seems to be under the impression that he was promised a starting job, which would likely mean that one of Beal or Grayson Allen would have to go to the pine.
This isn’t exactly a major demotion for Beal in Swartz’s proposal.
In this scenario, Beal would lead the second unit and would probably get more scoring opportunities thanks to playing fewer minutes alongside Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
Of course, in the end, Beal would almost surely play starter minutes anyway, and most of the time, he would probably close games with the starting unit.
But the Suns do need to shake things up after an incredibly disappointing 2023-24 campaign, and sending Beal to a sixth man role may be one of the best methods of doing that.
Phoenix acquired Beal from the Washington Wizards in a blockbuster three-team trade last summer. During his first season in the desert, Beal played in 53 games and averaged 18.2 points, five assists and 4.4 rebounds over 33.3 minutes a night on 51.3/43.0/81.3 shooting splits.
Those are hardly bad numbers, as Beal actually posted a career-high true-shooting percentage of 60.7 percent. However, he had a minus-0.1 net rating, and he simply did not mesh well with Durant and Booker. Especially in late-game situations.
Can Bradley Beal and the Phoenix Suns manage to contend for a title next season?
On paper, the Suns are loaded. A trio of Durant, Booker and Beal sounds terrifying, and supporting pieces like Jusuf Nurkic and Allen are not half bad.
But clearly, something went very wrong with Phoenix’s chemistry last year, which played a significant role in the Suns being the worst fourth-quarter team in basketball.
That was on full display during the playoffs, when Phoenix was swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.
As talented as the Suns are, the Western Conference is a bloodbath. The Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets and the Timberwolves will all be back and potentially better next season, and don’t forget that the Memphis Grizzlies are getting healthy.
It’s going to take a major change in philosophy for Phoenix to make a serious run, and with Durant another year older, a deep playoff run may simply not be in the cards for the Phoenix Suns in 2025.
But perhaps moving Bradley Beal to the bench can jumpstart something.
Who knows.
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