Bradley Beal Taking Heat From NBA Fans After Suns’ Newest Signing

NBA fans clamored for Suns guard Bradley Beal to be demoted after the Suns signed the top remaining free-agent point guard.

On Saturday, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Phoenix signed guard Tyus Jones to a one-year, $3.3 million contract.

In discussing his decision, Jones told ESPN, "The chance to play for the Suns made the most sense on a lot of levels."

"Coach [Mike Budenholzer] showed me how I can significantly impact a team that has a real opportunity to challenge for an NBA title as their starting point guard," Jones added.

Afterward, a vocal subset of NBA fans suggested that the Suns should move Beal, who has a cap hit of $50.2 million in 2024-25, to the second unit to make room for Jones in their starting lineup.

"There is NO logical argument for not starting Tyus Jones over Bradley Beal," wrote radio host Benjamin Garcia.

He added: "Bradley Beal is a redundancy in the starting lineup to Booker & KD.Go to the damn bench & be Washington Wizards Bradley Beal of the bench and COOK: What are we arguing? This is a slam dunk."

Others agreed.

"They should absolutely bring Beal off the bench btw. They won't do it, but I'm all but certain it'll be the conversation we're having a month into the season," added one commenter.

"Does Beal start with Book and Tyus or come off the bench? IMO we’d be much more balanced with O’Neal starting and Beal torching 2nd units off the bench," questioned one.

"All last season I said they needed a real point guard, now they have one… The question now is will they bring Bradley Beal off the bench?" asked one poster.

"It makes a lot of sense to have Bradley Beal come off the bench if he could put his ego aside," declared another.

Beal has started every game he's appeared in since the start of the 2016-17 season. He started 53 times in his first year with the Suns (2023-24) and shot a career-best 51.3 percent from the floor, including 43 percent from beyond the arc.

Next to guard Devin Booker and forward Kevin Durant, Beal took his fewest field-goal attempts (13.9) since his third year in the league (13.5).

Per Basketball Reference , he played a career-high 60 percent of his minutes as a small forward after playing as a shooting guard 82 percent of the time with the Wizards.

Jones started 66 games for the Wizards in 2023-24, his ninth year in the league. He averaged career-highs in points (12) and assists (7.3) per game on 48.9 percent shooting (41.4 percent from three-point range).

Wojnarowski shared Jones' 7.35 assist-to-turnover ratio was the "highest of any player in a season since individual turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78."