Bradley Beal is heading to the Bay. The Golden State Warriors acquired Beal from the Phoenix Suns on Saturday in a three-team trade that also included the Utah Jazz, sending Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, and multiple future second-round picks out of Golden State to complete the deal.
Beal waived his no-trade clause after weeks of quiet conversations between his camp and the Warriors. Sources say the pull of playing alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green was the deciding factor after two frustrating seasons in Phoenix.
The Suns are officially blowing it up. Beal joins Kevin Durant as former Phoenix cornerstones on the move, and Devin Booker is now the only remaining piece of the big three era. Phoenix is in full asset accumulation mode and will build the next contending window around Booker and the young core.
For Golden State, this is the last real swing at another championship with Curry. The Warriors have been searching for a legitimate second option since Klay Thompson’s game slipped, and Beal is the kind of shot creator who fits alongside Curry without stepping on his creative space.
The financial part is complex. Beal has three years and about $161 million left on his contract. Golden State absorbed the salary through the taxpayer exception and by sending Wiggins to Utah in a separate leg of the deal. The Warriors will be deep into the second apron, which will cost ownership real money.
Steve Kerr now has a starting lineup of Curry, Beal, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney, with Buddy Hield, Moses Moody, and rookie forward Alex Sarr in the primary rotation. That is a legitimate top-five roster in the West.
Beal has quietly been one of the more efficient scorers in the league when healthy. He shot 43 percent from three last season and posted the best true shooting percentage of his career. The bigger question, as always, is availability.
The Warriors report to camp in less than three weeks. Beal is expected to be available for the full offseason ramp-up and will play in all four preseason games. The pressure on Golden State is now enormous, but the pressure on Curry to add another ring has been the operating context of every trade for five years.
Phoenix and Utah both make out well. The Jazz add Wiggins to a young core built around Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler. The Suns collect draft picks and reset the timeline. Everyone gets what they wanted, which is why the deal came together.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
