The Suns are trying to build a roster with Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic. (Photo by Harry Howe/Getty Images)
The Phoenix Suns are facing reality.
According to veteran NBA writer Chris Haynes, Phoenix benched starters Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic after losing seven of their past eight games, dropping their record to 15-18. Rookie wing Ryan Dunn and veteran big man Mason Plumlee will replace the pair in the starting lineup.
The move is an acknowledgment that the Suns’ future superteam with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker is far from a reality, and that Beal and Nurkic could have easily pulled the plug.
Both players’ stats are down significantly from last year’s performance, but most importantly, the Suns have been trailed by 1.9 points per 100 possessions so far this season, compared to 8.7 when Beal is on the field. This means that the score is also higher. He had a 4.7 point difference with Nurkic. Both players have been valuable to other teams in the past, but have looked like empty shells of late.
The problem for the Suns is that those two players, plus Durant and Booker, account for 77.5% of the team’s payroll and 120% of their cap space this season. The rest of the team is what they can afford on a tight budget, meaning any major change for the better will have to come from a) players they already have, or b) trades. Masu.
There is no shortage of trade speculation involving the Suns, especially Beal. Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, who is currently on a seven-game suspension, has been clamoring to be traded, but the Suns have Beal exempt from his no-trade clause and have another deal to rebuild their finances. I’ll have to find a team. , because the Heat reportedly want nothing to do with Beal’s supermax contract.
After the Durant-Beal trade, the Suns have relatively few draft picks, and further strengthening the roster would mean further emptying. It’s an unenviable situation for any team to have a trio of expensive superstars not working at all, but Phoenix is currently trying to overcome this situation.
