Suns ‘are trying to win a championship NOW’ after Bradley Beal trade gave them another elite scorer

There is no time like the present for the Phoenix Suns, who just traded for yet another elite scorer in Bradley Beal.

Following the Suns’ deal for Kevin Durant at the trade deadline – which saw them give up four first-round picks, budding star Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson – the team is severely devoid of assets.

And ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski sees a team with little regard for its future at the moment.

‘They are trying to win a championship now, they are trying to win it in this window,’ he said Monday on ‘Get Up.’ 

‘And they have, certainly, three of the great offensive weapons in the NBA right now together.’

Bradley Beal will join forces with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on the Phoenix Suns

The team looked extremely thin last season outside of the high-scoring pair

Beal will of course team up with Durant and Devin Booker in Phoenix, with Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and ‘at least’ four second-round picks, according to The Athletic, being sent to the Washington Wizards.

In Durant, Booker and now Beal, Phoenix has three of the game’s premier scorers, as the first two showed with some heroic efforts last postseason.

The problem is the rest of the roster. 

Aside from double-double machine DeAndre Ayton, who has been involved in trade rumors this offseason, the rest of the roster is woefully thin.

Other than Durant, Booker, Beal and Ayton, only Cameron Payne is on the roster with a partially guaranteed contract, while the team also has a club option on reserve forward Ishmail Wainright.

Obviously, Phoenix will need more than six players next season, but have already committed more than $161million to their big four and are a projected $70million over the cap, per Spotrac. 

New owner Mat Ishbia will be paying well into the luxury tax to fill out the roster, though there will be penalties for doing so under the new collective bargaining agreement.

Under the league’s new agreement, teams over the ‘second apron’ of the luxury tax – that is $17.5million above the tax threshold – will face severe restrictions.

Those teams will not be able to sign players on the buyout market or use the mid-level exception, while they also won’t be able to use cash as part of trades.

DeAndre Ayton has been involved in trade rumors but remains on the roster at the moment

The Athletic previously reported that the league will phase in the changes over a two-year period.

Finances aside, there’s also the question of how Beal, Durant and Booker will fit on the court.

All three prefer to play as ball-dominant scorers, and Durant’s fit last season sometimes looked awkward before Beal was even in the picture.

Beal, who’s played his entire career up to this point in Washington, will now effectively be a third option.

After a playoff series loss to the Nuggets where the Suns looked devoid of depth, making the team even more top-heavy is certainly a bold call.