Wizards, Hawks Were Only Teams Willing To Acquire Bradley Beal

The Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks were the only teams willing to consider acquiring Bradley Beal from the Phoenix Suns, sources tell Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN. The Suns attempted to trade Beal over the course of several weeks in hopes of acquiring Jimmy Butler and canvassed the entire league.

The Suns had hoped they could improve their trade package to incentivize other teams to help them trade for Butler and thought a deal could materialize as other trades the Wizards and Hawks were working on fell through.

Whatever deal the Suns put together was subject to Beal waiving his no-trade clause to approve it. Beal was said to prefer a warm weather destination.

Windhorst said on his podcast following the trade deadline that the messaging the Suns received on a trade of Beal was that the draft compensation they could offer couldn’t offset the cost for a team to take him on.