Bradley Beal recently revealed that he was almost traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in a deal that would have centered around Khris Middleton. He spoke about how surprised he was on the Run Your Race Podcast with Theo Pinson.
“First off, Phoenix wasn’t really in the picture for me to go to. It wasn’t,” Beal said. “That was a fly ball that came out … I’m in left field. I’m waiting on Miami to give me a grounder, Milwaukee. Those were kind of my two. Miami didn’t want to do it for whatever reason, didn’t know why. Milwaukee I was like — I was straddling the fence.”
“I don’t know many people who are going to opt in, get traded to D.C.,” Bradley Beal continued. “The loyalty part in that, like, trading somebody who won y’all a championship the previous year, who was a key piece to winning a championship, it didn’t sit right for me.
“We competitors. I can fill that role very nicely. (But) I didn’t like that. I didn’t like the look.”
Middleton re-signed with Milwaukee in the 2023 offseason on a three-year, $102 million deal.
Bradley Beal Says Milwaukee Bucks Tried to Trade for Him in 2023
Bradley Beal’s Current Role With the Phoenix Suns
It remains to be seen if Bradley Beal can co-exist with the current Phoenix Suns core. Many expected his arrival to be the harbinger of a new super team in the Western Conference. However, the lack of a true floor general for Phoenix combined with inconsistent team defense made for a clunky fit at times for Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker. As one would expect, the former Washington Wizard had to take a reduced role last year. Especially considering Booker and Durant’s abilities are usually maximized when the ball is in their hands. Too often we have seen teams in NBA history experiment with three ball-dominant stars to see them underachieve.
Unfortunately for Bradley Beal, he was the odd man out last year. Beal tallied 18.2 points, 5.0 assists, and 4.4 total rebounds per game while shooting 51.3 percent from the field. He still showcased his value as a shooter as he hit 43.0 percent of his three-point shots. Beal unfortunately came up short in the postseason. He struggled to find a rhythm against Minnesota in the first round as he averaged 16.5 points on 44.1 percent shooting. After re-tooling their roster this offseason, time will tell if Bradley Beal has a true role within this Phoenix Suns team.
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