Mat Ishbia is serious about making the Phoenix Suns a successful team in the NBA. Not only did they trade for Kevin Durant shortly after he took over, now the team has added Bradley Beal to its roster.
With the former Washington Wizards star on board, the Suns have a mighty Big Three which includes Devin Booker. However, it looks like Beal wasn’t their original target.
According to Ian Begley of SNY, before the three-time All-Star suddenly became available, Phoenix got in touch with the Dallas Mavericks to enquire about a potential deal for Kyrie Irving.
Suns were interested in reuniting Kyrie Irving with KD
“The Suns don’t have much trade capital left after acquiring Bradley Beal from the Wizards. So it’s fair to assume that they can’t make a trade for a top player like Kyrie Irving. But it’s worth noting that Phoenix had interest in Irving earlier in the offseason,” Begley wrote.
“The Suns were among the teams to reach out to Dallas about a potential sign-and-trade for Irving earlier in the offseason, per sources familiar with the matter. Dallas, presumably, wasn’t interested in what the Suns offered at the time. If the Mavs were blown away by the offer, logic says that Beal wouldn’t be a Sun today.”
It would make sense, since Irving was one of the biggest names who could potentially be on the market. However, the Suns clearly don’t want to waste their time, and they preferred to move on and get Beal, who is also an upgrade to their roster.