Bradley Beal seems to be clueless as to why the Miami Heat didn’t trade for him before he was dealt to the Phoenix Suns.
“I’m waitin’ on Miami to hit me a grounder, Milwaukee — those were kind of like my two,” Beal said of his preferred trade destinations at the time. “Miami didn’t wanna do it for whatever reason, didn’t know why.”
In light of Beal getting traded to the Suns, several reports came out that tried to explain Miami’s rationale for not pulling the trigger on a trade for him.
NBA insider Zach Lowe said that Miami didn’t think Beal was “$30 million better” than guard Tyler Herro, who averaged a career-high 20.8 points per game on 44.1 percent shooting from the field and 39.6 percent from 3-point range in the 2023-24 regular season.
“They didn’t really go for Bradley Beal,” said Lowe. “I think that was a vote of confidence in Tyler Herro. I think, from what I heard, the Heat looked at that situation and said, ‘We don’t think Bradley Beal, who’s…seven years older than Tyler Herro, is $30 million better than Tyler Herro going forward. We just don’t think the upgrade is worth it.’”
Additionally, Barry Jackson reported that the Heat were turned off by the notion of inheriting the 31-year-old’s no-trade clause.
“Even though the Heat holds Bradley Beal in high regard, we hear one major reason the Heat didn’t pursue a Beal trade earlier this offseason was because it philosophically doesn’t like the idea of inheriting a no-trade clause,” Jackson wrote. “Beal’s no-trade clause came with him to Phoenix.”
Finally, an executive told Steve Bulpett that the Heat’s team president — Pat Riley — couldn’t sell team owner Micky Arison on the tax consequences that would arise from trading for the star.
“But Riley couldn’t sell the owner on the tax consequences down the road,” said the exec. “It was a hard contract to move. Bradley might have been stuck in Washington if it hadn’t been for the new guy in Phoenix (owner Mat Ishbia) wanting to make a splash. And he got pushed by K.D. (Kevin Durant) to add that third guy. Kevin was the driver in that regard. And Bradley still had to give up his no-trade clause and (15%) trade kicker to make it work.”
The Suns acquired Beal in a three-team trade that involved the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers as well. The Wizards received Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, Bilal Coulibaly and a treasure trove of draft picks. As for the Pacers, they landed Jarace Walker as well as a pair of second-round picks.
Beal sticks out as the best player involved in the aforementioned trade, but his first season with the Suns went less than swimmingly. He appeared in only 53 of Phoenix’s 82 games during the regular season and averaged the fewest points per game since the 2015-16 campaign with 18.2.
To add insult to injury, Beal’s Suns suffered an early exit in the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Not only did the team lose to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round, but it also got swept in four games.
With any luck, Beal will have a more successful stint in his second season in Phoenix now that the squad has a great playmaker in Tyus Jones. Jones averaged 7.3 assists compared to only 1.0 turnover per game in a starting role with an albeit lowly Wizards a season ago.