Bradley Beal Trending After LeBron James Re-Ups With The Lakers

On the surface, Suns guard Bradley Beal and Lakers forward LeBron James don't share much.

But with James' agreeing to a two-year, $104 million extension with the Lakers, he joins Beal on an exclusive list.

"James joins Phoenix’s Bradley Beal as one of the two league players with no-trade clauses," wrote ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on social media.

Boston center Luke Kornet also technically has a no-trade clause, but his is due to salary cap rules and not language in his one-year, league minimum contract.

Obviously, fans found it amusing that James, the greatest player of his generation, and Beal, who isn't, are among the only players in the league with the power to nullify a trade.

"Only 2 players in the entire NBA have no-trade clauses and one of them is Bradley Beal? In the NHL 4th line grinders who scored 1 playoff goal that was kind of important 3 years ago get NTCs lol," wrote one surprised fan.

"If the Suns wanted to trade Bradley Beal for LeBron James, the no-trade clauses cancel each other out, right?" joked another commenter.

In 2023-24, Beal's first with the Suns, he was the most efficient he'd been in his 12-year NBA career. He set career highs in shooting (51.3 percent overall, 43 percent from deep) while scoring 18.2 points per game, his fewest since 2015-16.

During Phoenix's first-round sweep at the hands of the Timberwolves, Beal averaged 16.5 points per game.

Per NBA tracking data , he received the primary defensive assignment on Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, who scored 54 points on 17-of-28 shooting (6-of-11 from three-point range) in 33:01 matchup minutes.

Meanwhile, James shot 54 percent, including 41 percent from beyond the arc, and scored 25.7 points per game in Year 21 in the NBA.

He led all players in the postseason with an average of 2.4 steals per game while scoring 27.8 points, his highest in the postseason since 2017-18 with the Cavaliers.