Suns G Bradley Beal: Wizards Initiated Trade Talks

Bradley Beal explained that Washington wanted to trade him - not the other way around.

Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal got very candid with Washington-based reporters on recently when his Suns squad faced the Washington Wizards. 

Beal - who was a member of the Wizards for eleven seasons prior to the trade to Phoenix in June - admitted that it was Washington who initiated the breakup between the two sides over the summer:

"It was very tough because you guys know how kind of, I guess, naïve I was in some ways and hard-headed and wanting it to work in D.C., and being the guy kind of leading the charge in doing so," he said (h/t The Athletic).

“But on the same foot, having a new conversation with the front office, it was, I don’t want to say ‘a sigh of relief,’ but it was kind of like addressing the elephant in the room in some ways. It kind of was like popping a big balloon that kind of inflated — like, ‘What are we doing?’ It was kind of like getting out of limbo.

“So, to hear that they wanted to go in the direction of building younger and moving me to a potential contender — it was tough to hear. But in the same light, I kind of embraced it and just looked at it as another opportunity for me to look at a new chapter in my career, as tough a decision as it was.”

Beal is the only player in the NBA to have a no-trade clause in his contract (as far as public knowledge extends) which made it tough to find a trade partner in a myriad of ways.

Beal eventually chose Phoenix as his next home behind recruiting efforts from Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, forming a Big 3 in hopes of netting a first championship for Beal and the Suns.

Beal also presumably used leverage to get Jordan Goodwin attached to the trade to Phoenix - Goodwin has been a generally strong performer in Phoenix thus far this season.

Beal has struggled with poor injury luck this season, appearing in only six games for the Suns thus far.

He is also set to miss the next two weeks at a minimum with a sprained ankle and is set to be re-evaluated in January.

Suns Officially Sitting Bradley Beal Next Two Weeks

Time will tell if the Beal trade will pay dividends for the Suns, but the move for him was a necessary swing for the fences in both Phoenix and Washington.