Absolutely; I certainly agree. But do you accept that the Beal problem is virtually unsolvable, due to no one wanting that contract? I do. I believe the Suns have no choice but to swallow the problem. They created it and must live with it. Beal is stuck here. That is why I say that only Durant should be traded. It's not that Durant hasn't done what the team wanted. It's that he's the only one of the three whom another team might trade for straight up.
Yeah, and they can never stop anybody on defense and if they do, they allow offensive rebounds until they do score.
Beal has signaled teams is is open to go to. That doesn't mean it's likely with that monster contract. However, there is not much point to just trading Beal. If you do that, you are pretty much signalling you gave up on this run. If that's the case, why hold onto anybody? It's over. It's done. Time to move on. Also, despite Book having an off year so far, there are a ton of teams that would take him in a heartbeat. There are always teams who feel a player is being misused or is a vitim of that teams operations. Teams watched him in the Olympics. He still has a ton of value IMO.
Trading for Butler is just as much mortgaging your future as keeping Beal. Reports say Bulter will not go to a team that won't pay him his extension. Plus, the Suns are going to have to throw something else into the mix. Now you are on the hook for two 35+ year olds eating up 100 million in cap. Trading Butler for Beal's contracts is basically a push salary wise.
That's one reason I wouldn't offer Beal anyway for Butler--especially since they don't want Beal! I would offer Durant, not Beal.
You likely are not trading either without a 3rd team getting involved.
What, because Durant makes a few million dollars more than Butler? I suppose that's a concern, but I would also suppose that the Heat would still take Durant's contract because Durant has even more stature as a great player than Butler. As far as I can tell, Durant is a player any team would take if they can afford him. I researched it and found out that their contracts are similar enough to allow a straight-up trade. I find a straight-up trade less unlikely than anyone taking Beal. Any GM taking Beal now, after how badly Beal has played, deserves to get fired and to be called an idiot in his local media. But Durant? It would simply be a gamble.
The Suns have shown no desire to trade Durant anyway and are talking extension. It's never going to happen. If they acquire Butler, it's going to be for Beal and would likely be a 3 team trade because you are going to have offer assets to go with that terrible contract. I don't see any scenario where the team goes with Book, Butler and Beal as their big 3.
Good would not be interested in ever seeing that as a big 3 anyway! They need to get a good big Nurk has been a disaster this year and we have no inside presence or rebounding!
Forget the Mitchell comparison. I don't know what's happened to Devin but all too often I'm not sure he's even playing like he's in the top 100.
The only thing I can speculate about Booker is that playing in the Olympics during the off-season wore him down and he's been out of gas this year.
