Bradley Beal Reportedly 'Open to Cooperating' on Suns Contract Buyout amid NBA Rumors

Bradley Beal is "open to cooperating" on a potential buyout from his contract with the Phoenix Suns, Forbes' Evan Sidery reported on Friday.

Sidery's report comes the day after The Arizona Republic's Duane Rankin wrote that the Suns "have been discussing a possible buyout" for Beal.

Beal has more than $110 million remaining on his contract, including a player option for the 2026-27 season, according to Spotrac.

If bought out, Beal would become an unrestricted free agent and could sign with a new team starting July 6.

The news involving Beal's potential buyout comes after the Milwaukee Bucks decided to waive Damian Lillard with two years and $112.5 million remaining on his contract.

The Bucks stretched Lillard's contract and will now pay $22.5 million in dead cap money in each of the new five seasons, per ESPN's Bobby Marks.

The total money teams spend on stretched contracts must take up 15 percent or less of each year's salary cap. For the 2025-26 season, that total is just under $23.2 million, per Marks.

Marks noted during a recent appearance on the Ryen Russillo Podcast that the Suns won't be able to follow the Bucks' example because they have already allocated $3.8 million in dead money to pay out the contracts of Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell.

That leaves the Suns with just about $19 million left in cap space for stretched contracts, and Beal's remaining deal would cost the team about $22 million per year if extended over five years.

"It's a matter of, is he willing to take a little bit less of the 110 [million]? Would he take 96, 97 [million] from Phoenix if he can get eight or nine [million] from another team, even if he loses three or four million dollars? I think that's the biggest question," Marks said at the 45:20 mark of Russillo's podcast.

"But I think, if there is a buyout as I said, he has to take money off it. He has to take I think like $12, $13 million, maybe a little bit more off that number."

NBA insider Marc Stein recently reported that the Bucks and the Miami Heat would "have interest in signing Beal" if he were to hit free agency, although Marks cautioned that the Heat will risk hitting the first apron with the signing.

Beal's reported willingness to work with the Suns on a potential buyout could be key to Phoenix working out a way to move his contract and continue the roster teardown that started in June with the trade of Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets.