Suns' Updated Roster, Salary Cap After Bradley Beal's Contract Buyout

The Phoenix Suns cut their luxury tax bill from $176 million to $0 by buying out Bradley Beal on Wednesday.

The Suns are now projected to allocate $187 million in salary for the 2025-26 season, leaving the franchise just below the tax threshold, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks.

The Suns were $14 million above the second luxury tax apron and $26 million above the first luxury tax apron before cutting Beal.

Beal had two years and $110 million remaining on his contract when he reportedly agreed to be bought out by the Suns. ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Wednesday that he intends to sign a two-year, $11 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Beal chose to reduce his salary by $13.9 million as part of the buyout, which will allow the Suns to waive and stretch his contract over five seasons.

The Suns are now set to spend $19.4 million per season in dead money on Beal, and a total of more than $23 million in dead money when including the stretched contracts of Nassir Little and EJ Liddell, per Marks.

Despite the restriction of giving up at least $19 million in salary cap space over the next five seasons, waiving Beal gave the Suns increased flexibility by shaking off the trade and free agency restrictions put into place above the second apron.

Phoenix could gain access to the ability to increase payroll in trades, the ability to sign-and-trade for free agents and the ability to exceed the salary cap by getting under the second apron, according to CapSheets' Yossi Gozlan.

The Suns can also regain the ability to move their 2032 first-round pick if the franchise remains under the second apron for the next three seasons, according to Marks. The selection is currently untradeable as part of the penalties Phoenix has collected by repeatedly exceeding the second apron.

Phoenix currently has 13 players on the roster following the Beal buyout, per Gozlan. Adding a 14th player will likely bring the franchise back up over the first apron without additional moves.

Getting below the second apron will still allow the franchise to gain trade and free agency flexibility while building around newly-extended star Devin Booker. If the NBA salary cap increases as projected over the next few seasons, the amount of the Suns' cap dedicated to paying out Beal's contract could sink to below 10 percent by the end of this five-year stretch.