Bradley Beal's underwhelming time with the Phoenix Suns has officially come to an end, as ESPN's Shams Charania reports that Beal has reached a buyout with the Suns. Once Beal clears waivers, he's set to join the Los Angeles Clippers on a, dare we say, team-friendly two-year, $11 million deal with a player option.
Bradley Beal was the worst contract in the league
Many viewed Beal as the worst contract in the entire association. He agreed to a massive five-year, $251 million deal with the Washington Wizards before coming over to Phoenix in the Chris Paul trade -- a deal the Suns, who still lack a true point guard years later, would love to take back in retrospect.
Murphy's Law came into effect, and anything that could go wrong did. The positional overlap between Beal, Devin Booker, and the Suns' other shooting guards became a fatal flaw. His no-trade clause essentially led to Phoenix missing out on Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline. The ripple effect is that, had Butler been in The Valley, Kevin Durant likely would've never gotten traded to Houston this summer.
Phoenix is now in a disastrous spot, and owner Mat Ishbia's confidence in their situation compared to those around the league did not age well.
Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia: “Ask the other 29 GMs, 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team, our draft picks, and everything as is. The house is not on fire. We’re in a great position. It’s not hard to fix.” (🎥 @CamCox12) pic.twitter.com/xawnNJPXfI
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) May 2, 2024
Charania reports Beal is giving back $13.9 million of the final $110 million owed, with the Suns expected to waive-and-stretch the remaining two-year salary over five years.
That distinction now belongs to Jerami Grant
For the Portland Trail Blazers, the harsh reality of this development is that it now makes Jerami Grant the worst contract in the league.
There are plenty of other candidates that fit the bill (pun intended), including Jordan Poole, Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, Zeke Nnaji, Paul George, and, unfortunately, another Blazer in recently acquired Jrue Holiday. But Grant's head-scratching five-year, $160 million deal stands out as the worst after factoring in salary vs. production and each respective team's situation.
There's no reason for Portland to still have Grant on its roster other than their inability to move the negative asset without attaching draft capital. He's getting in the way of the development of Portland's young core, inexplicably taking away a starting role from Shaedon Sharpe this past season.
The Blazers still owe Grant $102.6 million over the next three seasons after accounting for his player option. Meanwhile, his production has declined, coming off a season in which he averaged 14.4 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting an inefficient 37.3 percent from the field. That's... not ideal for any team, nonetheless, a rebuilding roster that is still years away from contending and doesn't fit his timeline.
Under the new CBA, teams have to be more frugal with the contracts they hand out, which we saw in free agency. Unfortunately, Portland and general manager Joe Cronin have dug themselves an inescapable hole with Grant. That's going to become a major roadblock in their rebuild as Portland will soon have to navigate extensions for multiple rookie-scale players on top of trying to juggle any additions they can make to get back to contention status.