NBA rumors: Bradley Beal's family is 'first priority' when discussing no-trade clause
Yesterday at 11:58 AM
As the Phoenix Suns have been in trade rumors for the past two months about trying to acquire Jimmy Butler, the person who holds the key in any deal is Bradley Beal. The Suns are not looking to move on from Kevin Durant or Devin Booker, and Beal is the next closest person with the salary to make a deal work for someone like Butler.
In order for any deal to materialize, Beal would first have to waive his no-trade clause, but he won’t do it just to do it, according to The Athletic.
“But Beal owns a no-trade clause, which enables him to veto any deal, a power he is willing to wield. His first priority is his family, according to a source familiar with his thinking,” The Athletic wrote. “Beal, his wife and two kids moved from Washington to Los Angeles and then full-time to Phoenix all in the past couple of years. A trade would mean either uprooting his two sons once again or leaving them to play elsewhere.
“Beal is willing to waive his no-trade clause, the source said, but the list is not long. He would need to go to a winning team that is also in an appealing city. Cold weather has never been his favorite, though he would make exceptions if the basketball situation were appealing enough.”
It seems like Beal would want to go to a winning situation, which is the only way that he would waive his no-trade clause.
Could Bradley Beal waive his no-trade clause?
Just a few days ago, Bradley Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, came out and said that he isn’t considering waiving his no-trade clause.
"But at this time, there's nothing we're considering,” Bartelstein told ESPN. “His entire energy and focus is on helping the Suns win. So all of this speculation that people keep writing about is really just people using their imagination."
Things could change between now and the trade deadline, but it also seems as if the Suns haven’t approached Beal about waiving his trade clause. That means that they’re committed to Beal, and there’s no other real way to try and acquire Jimmy Butler unless they move on from Kevin Durant or Devin Booker, which isn’t happening.
The hope is that the Suns can improve with the roster they have now while trying to build through smaller trades, such as the one they did to acquire Nick Richards.
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