Bradley Beal detailed his prospects for being traded from the Washington Wizards to the Phoenix Suns, who also played for the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat at the time, in June 2023.
“First of all, Phoenix wasn’t a place I planned on going. It wasn’t,” Beal said on the “Run Your Race” podcast with Theo Pinson. “It was a fly ball that came out…I’m a left fielder. I’m waiting for Miami to hit me a grounder, Milwaukee. Those were my two. Miami for some reason I didn’t want to do that, but I didn’t know why. In Milwaukee, I felt like I was on the fence.”
Beal revealed that Khris Middleton was supposed to be sent from the Bucks to the Wizards, but the Milwaukee veteran was needed to exercise his player option.
“I don’t know many people who opt in and get traded to D.C.,” Beal said. “The loyalty part of trading a guy who won a championship the year before, a guy who was a key piece to winning a championship, didn’t sit well with me.
“We’re competitors. I can play that role very well. (But) I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the look.”
Middleton re-signed with the Bucks as a free agent in the 2023 offseason on a three-year, $102 million contract.
