When we look at the state of affairs in the nba, the truth is when healthy perhaps only the bucks have the roster that can be competitive with the Celtics come playoff time. True, the cavs and thunder have high quality teams, but any realistic nba fan can see that the gap in depth is just too large.

The only other team with a chance of getting a roster solid enough to compete with the Celtics is the suns. How do they do this you might ask? Waive and stretch Bradley Beal and then sign him to a veteran’s minimum after the trade with the heat and the waivers clear. In this scenario, waive and stretch and sign of Beal would actually increase his overall earnings while decreasing the salary cap hit. Bringing the suns below the 2nd apron and allowing them to aggregate players in a trade.

Beyond that, they have nurkic, O’Neale, Allen and okogie to match butler along with Richardson and Johnson. They also can trade a first round and two second round picks from 2031. In doing this, they would need to sign three veteran’s minimums, one of which would be Beal, and the other two being perhaps Darius bazley and cedi osman, who can at least shoot. They would not be hard capped and would be able to fill out their roster in this way.

In the final measure, a small ball lineup of tyus jones, Devin booker, Bradley Beal, jimmy butler, and Kevin Durant would be among the most formidable in the nba, spotting the suns 100 points a night from their starters alone. While not quite as formidable or large as the bucks when Middleton is undoubtedly on in the playoffs per the usual, they don’t have the same issues that the bucks will likely encounter in facing the smaller lineup with greater depth of the Celtics. And Durant guarding porzingis in the finals invites the necessary mvp caliber performance necessary to win such a series.

Overall, I think the suns have no choice but to take this convoluted chance or risk running out of time to win a championship in the near future due to beal’s contract and the waning years of Durant’s career.