One of the most intriguing parts about the Suns doing a potential deal to land Jimmy Butler is that Bradley Beal holds all the power.
Being a second-apron team, the Suns will need to move one of their big guns to facilitate a Butler trade and it isn’t going to be Kevin Durant or Devin Booker, so Beal fits the bill.
The situation became even more interesting this week when Mike Budenholzer moved Beal to the bench.
However, ESPN is reporting that “Beal and his agent have had no talks about waiving his no-trade clause and his only focus is helping the team climb out of its recent slump, agent Mark Bartelstein told ESPN.
Bartelstein said, “There have been no discussions about trades with the Suns or any other team. Bradley’s total focus is on helping the Suns turn things around.”
Beal’s deal with the Suns has one of the NBA’s last true no-trade clauses, which he used to get himself to Phoenix when he asked out of Washington.
The latest coming out of Butler’s camp is that Phoenix is his “preferred destination by every single high ranking team official” that insider Jake Fischer contacted.
Butler sees Phoenix as one of the only places willing to give him the big, long-term deal he’s seeking.
Fischer said, “Beal’s no-trade clause is so vital to this dynamic and thus team officials have to tread carefully in this situation. Until there is some multi-team trade construction that could work for both the Suns and Heat, Phoenix has no incentive to broach this subject matter with Beal. “You can’t bring anything to Brad unless there’s a deal on the table,” said one longtime Eastern Conference executive. “You can’t lose him until you know you’re going to move him.” By all accounts, Beal has settled his family in the desert, does not want to be moved at this juncture and has no intention of waiving his no-trade clause.”
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