Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal holds an exceptionally rare full no-trade clause in his contract, making it nearly impossible for the team to trade or cut him. This rarity stems from the stringent conditions required to secure such a clause, which grants significant control to the player while severely limiting the team’s flexibility, and Beal currently has the only no-trade clause of its kind in the NBA. The Suns face a unique challenge as they are trapped by this clause along with new league rules, preventing them from relieving salary cap pressure or moving Beal despite wanting to.
The Complications of Beal’s No-Trade Clause
Although Beal agreed to be traded to the Suns from the Washington Wizards in June 2023, his no-trade clause remains fully in effect. Unlike trade kickers that serve as one-time bonuses, no-trade clauses are perpetual, allowing Beal to reject any future trade proposals from the Suns repeatedly. Reports indicate that he intends to exercise this veto right whenever possible. Beyond trading issues, the Suns are also restricted from waiving Beal to clear salary cap space due to updated NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) regulations. This prohibition is not merely strategic but an enforceable rule preventing the Suns from progressing with such a move under current conditions.
New Restrictions on Player Salary Cuts
The NBA’s revised Collective Bargaining Agreement, effective from July 1, 2023, includes new stipulations concerning the management of dead salary—that is, salary obligations toward players no longer on a team’s active roster. Before these changes, teams faced no limits on the proportion of their salary cap that could be tied up in such dead salaries, even when players were waived while under guaranteed contracts. This allowed teams, in theory, to hold large salary cap charges for inactive players while fielding a cheaper roster, a scenario deemed impractical but previously permissible.
The updated CBA now imposes strict caps on dead salary when teams use the stretch provision, a mechanism typically employed after waiving players to spread remaining contract costs over several years. Because the Suns would seek to use this stretch provision to ease Beal’s contract impact, the new 15% salary cap limit on dead money creates a clear obstacle to waiving and stretching Beal’s salary.
Understanding the Stretch Provision’s Function
The stretch provision allows teams to extend the cap hit of a waived player’s salary over a longer duration than the original contract term. If waived between July 1 and August 31, the remaining salary is charged over twice the remaining contract years plus one, while waivers occurring between September 1 and June 30 stretch only future years beyond the current season. This provision provides teams a financial strategy to lessen the immediate salary cap burden at the cost of extended cap charges over multiple seasons.
While the actual payments to the player do not change and are made in full immediately, the stretch provision affects how the salary affects the cap over time. For the Suns, this method would be the primary way to reduce the cap hit of Beal’s massive contract in the short term.
Potential Cap Savings from Stretching Beal’s Contract
Beal’s contract includes just under $110.8 million over two remaining years, with salaries of $53.7 million in 2025-26 and $57.1 million in 2026-27. If waived before the end of August, the Suns would aim to stretch this total amount over five seasons, equating to approximately $22.2 million against the cap each year. While this method spreads out the financial hit, it would still present a long-term salary cap burden extending five years into the future.
Despite the long-tail penalty, the Suns would stand to save tens of millions in luxury tax and other immediate financial constraints by reducing the short-term cap impact. Given the severe constraints Beal’s contract imposes on roster flexibility, the Suns might consider such an expensive write-off justifiable to dismantle the current roster logjam and create a smoother path forward.
However, this straightforward waive-and-stretch option, which on the surface looks like an appealing solution, is prohibited by the new league rules and the Suns’ existing salary cap structure.
New CBA Rules Make Stretching Beal’s Salary Impossible
The revised Collective Bargaining Agreement includes complex language limiting the use of the stretch provision. In essence, a team cannot elect to stretch a suspended player’s salary if the team’s total dead salary, which includes all waived and former player salaries, would exceed 15% of the salary cap in any future year due to that stretch election. Additionally, teams that stretch a player’s salary cannot re-sign or acquire that player until after the final contract season ends.
This limitation blocks Phoenix’s hope of executing the waive-and-stretch approach with Beal, because of existing dead salary commitments. The Suns have already utilized the stretch provision on previous player contracts, pushing them close to this 15% threshold, making any further major stretching moves unfeasible.
Who Are Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell, and Why Do They Matter?
The origins of the Suns’ present dead salary problem trace back to two players: Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell. Little was acquired via trade with Portland in September 2023 and waived a year later with the stretch provision applied to his contract. Meanwhile, Liddell was traded from the Atlanta Hawks in July 2024 and waived within a month that same day as Little, with the Suns also using the stretch provision on his guaranteed salary. Though Liddell never appeared in a game for Phoenix, his contract still counts against the salary cap.
Because of these prior strategic moves, Little’s and Liddell’s stretched salaries continue to count toward the Suns’ salary cap for multiple coming seasons, significantly limiting the team’s ability to stretch Beal’s contract. This catch-22 situation shows how short-term financial decisions have created long-term implications that now restrict roster flexibility at a critical point.
The Financial Breakdown of Stretch Salaries
Nassir Little’s waived contract continues to count $3,107,143 against the Suns’ cap annually through 2030-31 due to his $21.75 million guaranteed contract with three years remaining at the time of waiving. Liddell’s smaller guaranteed salary adds $706,898 per year for the next three seasons. Combining these with the proposed $22.2 million annual cap hit from stretching Beal’s remaining contract results in a total of approximately $26 million in dead salary obligations, already exceeding the 15% dead salary cap threshold.
The NBA’s estimated salary cap for 2025-26 is roughly $154.65 million, making the allowed 15% threshold about $23.2 million. The Suns’ cumulative dead salaries amount to $25.97 million, exceeding this limit by nearly $3 million. This overage renders the simple waiving and stretching of Beal’s contract impossible under CBA terms.
Could Buying Out Beal Offer a Way Forward?
Waiving Beal outright without stretching his salary is technically permitted but offers little immediate benefit. Alternatively, negotiating a buyout with Beal could reduce the total salary owed. A buyout involves the player agreeing to forgo some guaranteed salary to become a free agent sooner, hoping to recoup that money elsewhere. If Beal accepted a buyout that lowers his owed salary below the 15% dead salary cap threshold, the Suns could stretch the reduced amount.
For example, if Beal agreed to give up $30 million of his $110.8 million contract, reducing his owed salary to $80 million, the resulting annual cap hit when stretched could drop to around $16 million. This would fall under the 15% limit even accounting for existing stretched salaries from Little and Liddell. However, this requires substantial concessions and cooperation from Beal, who reportedly does not want to leave Phoenix.
The Market and Trade Prospects for Beal Are Dim
Even with a buyout, Beal’s market value is limited given his recent decline in performance and limited trade interest. For a buyout to be truly beneficial, Beal would need to sign elsewhere for nearly the full amount he would forgo in Phoenix, which appears unlikely given current league salary sheets and his diminished play. Additionally, a trade remains improbable because of the no-trade clause and limited demand, leaving the Suns with few operational options.
This situation challenges the NBA rule of thumb that any player with only two years left on a contract should be tradable. Beal’s case serves as a stark exception, illustrating the complications caused by rare contract provisions paired with evolving league salary management rules.
Remaining Options and Long-Term Outlook for the Suns
In the near term, the Suns might be best served by maintaining the status quo with Beal rather than forcing an unfavorable buyout or trade. If Beal’s performance improves and his value rises, the team could explore more advantageous options later. Even without immediate improvements, the Suns have flexibility next summer, as the stretch provision could be applied under different timing rules, reducing the duration of the cap hit from five years to three years, slightly easing the long-term financial burden.
However, because of choices made regarding Little and Liddell, the Suns have inadvertently forfeited their best immediate solution to the Beal salary dilemma. This serves as a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences of short-term decisions impacting a franchise’s structural flexibility and underscores how contract intricacies and league rules can trap teams with difficult salary cap situations.