The Phoenix Suns have decided to bench Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic after losing their last four games and falling to No. 12 in the West. The franchise will be starting rookie wing defender Ryan Dunn and veteran big man Mason Plumlee in place of the two Suns stars.
“Sources relay that Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic will be removed from the starting lineup on Monday at Philadelphia. In their place will be starting rookie Ryan Dunn and Mason Plumlee. There is tension in that locker room, with players unsure of their role and frustrated with how they’re being used. The coaching staff is trying to figure things out, so this situation will be one to monitor moving forward.”
This is a major development, as the Suns have been forcing themselves to play Nurkic and Beal as their starters due to the pair making a combined $68.3 million this season. It hasn’t been good on the court, with Beal being a redundant offensive complement to Devin Booker and Kevin Durant while Nurkic is a defensive liability on a team that needs an interior presence.
Starting Dunn gives the Suns an elite POA defender who can guard across positions while Plumlee will provide the defensive fundamentals Nurkic lacks as a center.
Beal is averaging 17.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists this season. Nurkic is averaging 8.8 points and 9.5 rebounds.
The Suns have looked great this season when Booker and Durant are running a two-headed offense with role-players around them, with Mike Budenholzer hoping that’s the case with both Beal and Nurkic being moved out of the first five. Instead, they can reinforce the Suns’ weak bench with Beal having more offensive space to dominate as a sixth man.
Nurkic fills no need for the Suns outside being an aggressive rebounder and a post-playmaker. His $18.1 million contract is just as much of a liability as Beal’s, so the Suns should prioritize trading him as they control that situation. They can’t do anything about Beal’s no-trade-clause, so they have to make the best of that situation by making him a star sixth-man guard.
It’s hard to envision any team willing to trade a competent big man for Nurkic, especially with the Suns having no draft assets to sweeten a potential trade.
This is going to be challenging for Phoenix for the rest of the season, who are being buried into a deep hole due to the roster mistakes they made while assembling last year’s team.
The franchise is extremely interested in making a Jimmy Butler trade happen, but that would be impossible without Beal accepting a trade to a third team that isn’t the Miami Heat. The challenges there are significant, so we likely have to bear with Beal staying on the Suns this season and having to be an impactful sixth man.
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