Surprising news: The Phoenix Suns trade their most talented player to another weak basketball team.

Startling news: The Phoenix Suns trade their best player to a different underperforming basketball team.
The Phoenix Suns took a huge risk in April when they gave up a huge amount for Kevin Durant.

Nevermind, though. Like trading for Kevin freaking Durant, it makes sense to acquire Bradley Beal from the Washington Wizards in return for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, second-round picks, and draft swaps.

Let us cross the Ts and dot the Is on the broad picture before we get to an introduction to someone who is really, really talented at basketball.

The Chris Paul era with the Suns is gone; the PG cannot sign a new contract in Phoenix.
Antiquated views condemning the Suns for putting themselves in a situation where depth will be a liability are expected to pour forth during the next few days. Phoenix was in that position already, as we have been covering nonstop for the last two months. Its third player would probably be significantly poorer, while its fourth, fifth, and sixth-best players would probably be better. How much of a gap there is on the former will depend on how many veterans the Suns sign. It will be until the second or third week of July before we can truly take a position there.

Deandre Ayton is the lone wild card in all of this. After these developments, Phoenix most certainly still wants to trade the big man for two or three weaker rotation players. Ayton might not be worth that much. That’s been the big enigma of the Sun’s summer. His shortcomings were highlighted when he terribly underperformed in the postseason after regressing during the regular season.

From a team-building standpoint, it makes sense, as well as when one realizes that, should Ayton stay, the title aspirations would depend on his consistency. As it is, the Suns gamble plenty. The Suns might not have a better choice, but betting on him too after his past mistakes would be foolish.

The Suns are in the second tier of the new collective bargaining agreement, which should go into force next season because of the excessive compensation. Phoenix will essentially be forced to fill out the remaining roster spots over the next three years with draft picks, two-way contracts, and veteran minimum deals, which severely limits their potential to acquire more players. I’ll leave it to the pros, like Bobby Marks of ESPN in this video, so we can go on to playing hoops.

Beal is a real three-level scorer, an overused term that has lost meaning in the past ten years but which accurately characterizes him and his teammates. In league history, Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant make up one of the best offensive trios. With the shooting and skill improvements over the last 15 years of basketball’s progression, Durant’s former superteam in Brooklyn is essentially the only comparable team.

According to Stathead, Durant (27.8 PPG) ranks sixth, Beal (27.0 PPG), and Booker (26.6) rank 10th in the NBA for points per game over the last five seasons combined. Zion Williamson (12th, 25.8 PPG), Brandon Ingram (23rd, 22.7 PPG), and C.J. McCollum (28th, 21.8 PPG) are the closest trio of three teammates right now, and they are in New Orleans. Three of them are in the top 10, and three of them live outside of it. Just consider that!

Using the same five-year period, the Suns also have three players in the top 16 for free throw attempts made per game.

To that extent, Beal crucially provides the Suns with another rim-pressure producer. Cleaning the Glass reports that he has attempted at least 29% of his shots at the rim in each of the previous five seasons, which is more than Booker’s career-best.

At the basket, Beal finishes really well. Since 2017, his efficiency has been far above 65%, which is a great statistic for a perimeter player of any size.

Beal has long been the only other player I could consider to be comparable to Booker. He has mostly achieved that by mastering rhythm and pace. Beal is an excellent crossover player who knows when to go all out. Among the best in the league, he manipulates screens—often rejecting them—to get the early edge and then slithering or slashing from there.

On drives, he is aggressive, frequently removing his first defender and then finding out how to get a bucket past the rim protector.