The Suns must explore four unrealistic Bradley Bill trading schemes in this offseason. Will anyone trade Bradley Bill?
The Phoenix Suns are about to usher in an unsatisfactory but crucial NBA offseason. Although Kevin Durant was traded during the 2022-23 season and Bradley Bill was traded during the offseason in 2023, the Suns failed to win one game in the series against Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs.
Now, the task of team owner Matt Ishbia and president James Jones is to turn the current Suns lineup into a real champion contender.
When Ishibia approved the Suns to trade Durant before the 2023 trade deadline, it seemed that the Suns might reproduce or even surpass their success in the 2021 playoffs, when they entered the NBA finals for the first time.
However, Durant's injury at the end of his term in the Brooklyn Nets is not good for Phoenix. Durant showed his potential briefly when partnering with Devon Booker until he was interrupted by an ankle injury.
Although Durant returned later, the lost time seemed to slow down the chemical reaction between Durant and Booker, Chris Paul and Andre Aton. Phoenix defeated the injured Los Angeles Clippers in the first round, but lost to the final NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the second round, and was out of the game after six games.
In the off-season in 2023, the Suns, who seemed to be working hard to trade Durant, decided to trade Bill. Although Bill was a scorer averaging 30 points a game a few seasons ago, he is no longer a hot commodity due to his $251 million contract. The contract was widely criticized when it was signed.
The worst part of the contract is not the amount, but Bill negotiated a non tradable clause in the contract.
The non tradable clause (NTC) actually gives players the right to veto any transaction involving them. NTC allows players to basically choose the team they want to be traded and the players and assets involved in the transaction. Therefore, NTC is very rare in NBA.
In fact, Bill is the only player in the league who has NTC.
After playing a season under his new contract, Bill allowed the Washington Wizards to trade him to the Suns in the 2023 off-season, including Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and a lot of first round draft rights swap and second round draft rights.
Unfortunately, Bill, Durant and Booker could not keep healthy at the same time. When the team finally became healthy, it was obvious that the Suns could not overcome the tenacious defense of the Timberwolves.
Now, the Suns must take a closer look at their lineup and figure out what they can do. Due to the transaction of introducing Durant and Bill, and the total salary of the "Big Three", the Suns have little room to operate.
Although theoretically, Phoenix Contact can trade Durant or Booker, considering that they are the best and most popular players in the team, and that the team has invested a lot of money in them (in the case of Durant, it has also sent a lot of transaction capital), this possibility is very small.
Therefore, there are only a few trading possibilities, and Yusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen and Nasir Little may be traded realistically, but their salaries are relatively small and cannot be combined in the transaction, making it difficult for the Suns to gain chips to change their destiny by exchanging these players.
Then there is Bill, whose contract has three years left, more than 150 million dollars (including the player option of 57.1 million dollars in the 2026-27 season).
Due to his huge salary pressure and his role in the Durant Booker Bill trio, he is usually the player most likely to be traded in this offseason.
However, as mentioned earlier, Bill has a non tradable clause, which gives him all the initiative to trade this summer.
Whether Bill wants to be traded remains to be seen, but if he doesn't, the situation may become very awkward. Since Bill can unilaterally veto any transaction involving him, he can theoretically stay in Phoenix all the time according to the term of the contract.
For the purpose of this article, we assume that Bill agrees with these transactions, but considering his ability to veto any and all transactions, we mark these transactions as unlikely.
Before we begin to discuss the trade, let's take a look at some restrictions faced by the Suns as a second tier salary cap team in this offseason.
To sum up, the second level salary cap is a number above the salary cap set by the Alliance. If a team exceeds the second salary cap (that is, the total salary is much higher than the salary cap), it will face severe restrictions when signing free players and executing transactions.
The following are the restrictions that Phoenix Contact, as a second tier salary cap team, faces during this offseason:
-You can't get players by signing before changing
-Bi annual exception cannot be used
-Cannot receive more salary than send in the transaction
-Transaction exceptions generated in the previous year cannot be used
-Cannot include cash in the transaction
-It is not possible to combine salaries of multiple players who leave in the transaction
-Can't trade the first round draft right after seven years
-The special case of middle-class taxpayers cannot be used
Interestingly, since we focus on Bill, we should note that his salary in the 2024-25 season is $50.2 million, and since the Suns can't accept more than this amount of salary, they can only obtain players who do not exceed this amount in any transaction involving Bill.
In addition, Bill cannot be traded with other players due to the combined salary restrictions.
The Suns have only one first round draft right in 2024 (in theory, it can only be traded after the draft) and one protected second round draft right in 2028 that can be used as trading assets. Since Bill's contract is a heavy burden with terrible non tradable terms, the Suns may have to attach their remaining draft capital in most transactions to attract the team to accept Bill.
Well, let's look at some unrealistic transactions involving Bradley Bill.
1. Bradley Bill finally landed in Miami
The Suns got: Terry Rosier and Duncan Robinson
The Heat won Bradley Bill, the 22nd pick in the 2024 NBA draft, and the protected second round pick in 2028 (from Boston)
Before approving the deal from Washington to Phoenix, Bill considered joining the Miami Heat. In fact, Bill said in October that Heat was his "first favorite", but they were "procrastinating". The Heat finally gave up the opportunity, perhaps hoping or expecting to get Damian Lillard, which gave the Suns the opportunity to trade Bill.
This off-season period may be a chance for Bill and the Heat to make a comeback (if Miami can be under the second tier salary cap). The Heat were swept by Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. There was no injured Jimmy Butler in the whole series. Butler had a strange cold war with the team president Pat Riley during the off-season.
Although Butler may opt out of his contract next summer, it is unlikely that he will do so at the age of 35. Therefore, the Heat can combine Butler, Bill, Bam Adebayor and their often neglected role players to create a strong Eastern League lineup.
In exchange, the Suns will get Terry Rosier, a full-time point guard, and Duncan Robinson, a three-point shooter. Robinson will be very suitable for Michael Budenholzer's offensive system, which used to have a shooter like Kyle Cornwall.
2. The Nets paired Bill with Michal Bridges and Ben Simmons
The Suns got: Dennis Schroeder and Cameron Johnson
The Nets won Bradley Bill, the protected second round draft right in 2028 (from Boston)
Like the Suns, the Brooklyn Nets are in a pretty bad situation. Brooklyn lost all these players in the past few years or so after struggling for the championship team composed of Durant, Kerry Owen and James Harden. Now, the team has many role players and secondary players needed to win the championship, but it lacks a superstar.
For the Suns, they will get Dennis Schroeder, a valuable dual guard who played under Budenholzer and showed his real value in the 2023 Los Angeles Lakers playoffs. The deal will also reunite Booker and Cameron Johnson, a 39% career three-point shooter who played together in Phoenix for four seasons. Schroeder and Johnson are not worth much at present, which may help Phoenix to trade suitable players in Budenholze's system.
Although Bill may have passed the peak period, he does bring a greater offensive threat that the Nets are currently lacking, and can reduce some pressure on Michal Bridges' shoulders. In addition, if Ben Simmons can recover and prove his ability in organizing attack and defense, the trio of Bill, Simmons and Bridges will be very difficult to fight in the Eastern League.
3. Darius Garland came to Phoenix
The Suns got: Darius Garland
The Cavaliers won Bradley Bill, the 22nd pick in the 2024 NBA draft, and the protected second round pick in 2028 (from Boston)
If the Cleveland Cavaliers can keep Donovan Mitchell, the team will reportedly seek to send Darius Garland away. He may be more suitable to partner with Devon Booker than with Mitchell in Cleveland.
The Suns will get a young and promising guard (21.7 points and 8.6 assists per game two years ago) who can shoot (38.4% of the three-point shooting rate in his career), while the Cavaliers will get a scoring threat that will enable Mitchell to control the ball more. For Bill, this may be an attractive situation, because the Cavaliers may still be a stable playoff team in the next few years.
4. Bradley Bill and Trey Young form a team
The Suns got: De Zhangtai Murray and De Andrei Hunter
The Hawks won Bradley Bill, the 22nd pick in the 2024 NBA draft, and the protected second round pick in 2028 (from Boston)
The Atlanta Hawks made a bet when they traded Dezhangtai Murray, hoping that he could coexist with another player with high possession of the ball, Trey Young. The results of this experiment are not satisfactory. It is reported that Atlanta is considering terminating this experiment during the off-season.
When it comes to Murray and Yang, the Hawks are most suitable to be the main ball controllers of the team. If Atlanta traded Murray for Bill, the problem might disappear. Although there are still some question marks in Atlanta's back court defense, the attack may be more harmonious. With the rise of Jay Johnson, the Hawks can continue to use their offensive firepower to overwhelm their opponents.
The Suns will get Murray, who can return to the role of a real point guard, just as he showed in the San Antonio Spurs. DeAndre Hunter, whose stock is relatively low, may fill the role of Royce O'Neal and Nasir Little last season.
