Devin Booker is once again left holding the fort in Phoenix. It’s been weeks since Kevin Durant packed his bags for Houston, and now, Bradley Beal has followed suit. The Suns are back in the headlines, but not for the reasons they’d hope. Beal officially reached a buyout with Phoenix on Wednesday, cutting his short-lived stint with the team. Not long after, he landed with the Clippers, adding another big name to a roster that’s been struggling to stay afloat. But does Beal’s arrival change anything for L.A.? Well, it seems Kendrick Perkins has the answer.

When Beal joined the Suns in 2023, expectations shot through the roof. Even Devin Booker confidently said, “I don’t know how teams are gonna guard us.” And honestly, who could blame him? A trio featuring Booker, Kevin Durant, and Beal looked like a walking nightmare for any defense. But the dream never materialized. With Beal on the roster, the Suns never won a single playoff game. They got swept by the Timberwolves in the 2024 first round and didn’t even make the playoffs in 2025. The promise turned into a bust, fast. And just as the dust began to settle, Beal made a move no one saw coming.

As we already know, the three-time All-Star reached a contract buyout with the Suns, paving the way for a two-year, $11 million deal with the Clippers, complete with a player option. But Phoenix didn’t walk away unscathed. To let Beal go, the Suns agreed to shell out a staggering $97 million over the next two years. That’s right, Beal walks with nearly nine figures and a fresh start in L.A. And how did he respond?

A simple peace sign. No words. No drama. Just a cryptic gesture that said it all. But while Beal has only given a peace sign. On the other side, Kendrick also gave one word, which shocked the fans.

On a recent episode of First Take, Kendrick Perkins didn’t hold back when discussing Bradley Beal’s new two-year, $11 million deal with the Clippers. When asked how Beal’s arrival might shift things in Los Angeles, Perkins gave a one-word answer that hit like a gut punch: “Nothing.” At first glance, that response felt cold, even disrespectful. But Perkins wasn’t throwing shade without a point. He quickly turned the spotlight onto Kawhi Leonard, delivering a hard truth many fans have been whispering for years.

Kendrick Perkins didn’t mince words when breaking down the Clippers’ latest move. For him, youth and athleticism are the real game-changers, and that’s exactly what L.A. lacks. As he said, “The teams that are trying to go get it, they have youth, they have athleticism. They have depth at the wing position that could play both ways. I don’t trust that the Clippers don’t have that. Yeah. You bring back James Harden, who’s going to do great in the regular season. You bring back Kawhi Leonard, who shows signs of life towards the end of the season, that he could be healthy, but we still don’t.” And, he’s got a point.

The Clippers may have re-signed James Harden, who still delivers in the regular season, and Kawhi Leonard, who flashes signs of life late, but there’s a catch. Harden is 35. Kawhi is 34. And his knee? Still unreliable. It’s been the Achilles’ heel, literally and figuratively, for years. So, Perkins in a way challenged the entire Clippers front office. His message was simple: adding Beal won’t mask the aging core. And that sharp take has fans wondering if this move actually moves the needle, or just makes noise.

Bradley Beal’s agent breaks silence with a pointed message after Suns exit

After finalizing the $97 million buyout, Bradley Beal’s agent Mark Bartelstein dropped a statement that turned heads. He said, “Brad is going to do whatever it takes to win. But the point of the matter is this guy is a very, very special player. He’s a very special talent. You can’t average 30 points in this league twice at the efficiency level that he did it at without being one of the very, very best there is. You have to let him be Brad Beal.”

Now, on the surface, it sounds like an agent defending his client. But go a little deeper, and it feels like a jab at the Suns’ system. If Bartelstein is suggesting the Phoenix Suns didn’t let Beal play to his strengths, that opens a whole new conversation. One that questions how the franchise used a three-time All-Star, and why it never clicked.

Was Beal shackled by the system? Did he have to play second or even third fiddle behind Booker and Durant? Or is this just a polished PR move to rewrite the exit narrative? There’s ground to stand on, but also plenty of smoke. Either way, it adds another twist to Beal’s rocky two-year run in the Valley. And now, all eyes shift to L.A., where he’ll finally get the chance to hopefully just be Brad Beal.