St. Louisan Bradley Beal, finally healthy, now focused on reviving disappointing Suns

It’s been a rough start to his tenure in Phoenix for St. Louis native Bradley Beal.

Beal played in just six of the Suns’ first 30 games, first dealing with a back ailment then spraining his ankle last month.

Beal is finally healthy, returning to the lineup late last month, and he’s finding his footing on a Suns team that has been one of the NBA’s biggest disappointments.

Phoenix was expected to contend for an NBA title this season. Much was expected of the trio of Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. Through Jan. 1, they’d been on the court together for just 64 minutes.

The Suns are just 19-18 as the season’s halfway point nears, and they will need to improve to avoid the Play-In Tournament.

Even as Beal and the Suns have returned to health, the team has struggled in recent games, losing three of four.

People are also reading…

Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal, right, drives past Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Los Angeles.

Mark J. Terrill – staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS

“It’s tough because we were all in certain different situations before we came here,” Beal recently told reporters. “The teams were different and now we have a lot of help. It takes a lot of sacrifice. It takes a lot of trust in your teammates. It takes a lot of trust in the process of getting better.

“We’re still getting it together. We’re still figuring it out, but we gotta do it a little bit faster.”

With Washington, Beal was the only NBA player with a known no-trade clause, according to The Athletic, and he used that to his advantage in permitting a deal that paired him with two stars in Phoenix.

Beal “almost certainly” used that clause to help make sure another St. Louis native, Jordan Goodwin, was included in that deal, The Athletic’s Josh Robbins wrote.

Beal, 30, was with the Wizards from his debut in 2012-13 through last season, and he opened up about the trade to Washington reporters when the Wizards visited Phoenix last month.

“To hear that they wanted to go in the direction of building younger and moving me to a potential contender — it was tough to hear,” Beal told reporters. “But in the same light, I kind of embraced it and just looked at it as another opportunity for me to look at a new chapter in my career, as tough a decision as it was.”

A look at the people born in the St. Louis area to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Get local news delivered to your inbox!