The Celtics showed the Suns the playbook, but Beal stands in the way

The Boston Celtics just showed the Suns how to fix their cap sheet. The Suns can do the same…if they can somehow move Beal.

There’s been a weight on the shoulders of the Phoenix Suns for the past two seasons. A looming, unrelenting burden that has shaped nearly every roster decision they’ve made.

The second apron.

Its restrictions are unforgiving. Its impact, suffocating. Navigating life above it isn’t just difficult, it’s a form of competitive purgatory. Flexibility disappears. Options vanish. Team-building becomes a puzzle with missing pieces.

But the Suns aren’t alone.

As the 2025–26 season nears, they are just one of several teams facing the wrath of the second apron, now set at a staggering $207.8 million. And for rosters bloated by star power and long-term gambles, that number has teeth.

Until recently, the Boston Celtics were right there with Phoenix, fellow prisoners of their own payroll. Now? They’ve taken steps to duck it. The Suns, on the other hand, remain boxed in, looking for air.

Just because you’re in second apron hell doesn’t mean you have to pitch a tent and live there. No reason to sit around roasting marshmallows while your flexibility burns.

Look no further than the Boston Celtics, a team that just won the championship and is now putting on a master class in how to escape the apron’s grip.

Boston entered this offseason facing a brutal dilemma. Jayson Tatum had torn his Achilles in the playoffs against the Knicks. Their payroll was bloated. Their flexibility nearly gone. And yet, they did what smart, forward-thinking organizations do: they adjusted.

The Celtics traded Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers, receiving draft capital and Anfernee Simons in return. The deal didn’t just net them a younger guard with offensive juice. It also shaved $4.7 million off the books.

And then came the big swing. Boston sent Kristaps Porzingis, set to earn $30.7 million next season, to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal that shaved a staggering $22.5 million off their books. Just like that, the Celtics went from apron-bound to breathing room.

Their total payroll now sits at $4.5 million under the second apron.

In a matter of hours, the 2024 NBA champs went from financial gridlock to fiscal flexibility. Not by tearing it all down, but by making calculated moves, balancing short-term savings with long-term sustainability.

Brad Stevens just pulled off a master class in cap navigation. Yes, Boston gave up talent — two players who helped raise a banner — but with Jayson Tatum’s injury casting a shadow over next season, the Celtics made a calculated decision. They moved out of the second apron, brought back a dynamic piece in Anfernee Simons, and most importantly, created long-term flexibility.

It’s exactly the kind of forward-thinking maneuver the Phoenix Suns should be chasing.

Of course, the one immovable obstacle for Phoenix remains: Bradley Beal and his no-trade clause. As long as he’s on the roster, the Suns are boxed in. But if they can find a creative path forward — perhaps a three-team deal that allows them to offload Beal, acquire a useful piece or two, and shed future salary by attaching draft capital — then the path to freedom begins to open.

That’s the direction this front office must explore. The challenge is whether Brian Gregory has the cap savvy, the league relationships, and the assertiveness to pull it off. Because if he does, the Suns might not just escape the second apron, they might actually build something real beyond it.

With the draft less than a day away, chaos is already taking hold across the NBA. Boston is making bold moves. CJ McCollum is headed to Washington. Jordan Poole is on his way to New Orleans. The landscape is shifting fast.

If Brian Gregory truly wants to leave his mark, to earn the trust of a skeptical fan base and prove he’s the right person to guide this franchise forward, there’s one move that would speak louder than any draft pick: pulling off the impossible and moving Bradley Beal.

Because make no mistake. Escaping the second apron isn’t optional. It’s essential.

Declining Vasilije Micic’s option and waiving Cody Martin will help, sure. But it’s not enough. Rookie-scale contracts from this year’s draft will soon hit the books, and the Suns will be right back where they started, strapped for flexibility, staring at the punitive second apron again.

Yes, moving Grayson Allen or Royce O’Neale could shave down the margin. But if the Suns want to go yard, if they want to swing big and reset their financial future, Bradley Beal is the linchpin.

Moving him would take a miracle. It would require creative cap gymnastics. But we just watched Brad Stevens do exactly that in Boston: shedding salary, reshaping the roster, and emerging with a path forward.

If Gregory can do the same, it wouldn’t just be a win. It would be a turning point.

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