Phoenix Suns say Caron Butler trade was not made for Michael Beasley

I’m not sure what hat they pulled it out of, but a few pundits suggested that the Phoenix Suns traded Caron Butler to the Milwaukee Bucks yesterday in an effort to free up floor time for Michael Beasley.

The Suns, specifically general manager Ryan McDonough were having none of it – telling the Arizona Republic the move was not made because of Beasley, rather, it was simply a smart basketball decision.

Per the AR:

"McDonough said the trade had more to do with salary-cap flexibility for a potential trade and how, since acquiring Butler in the Eric Bledsoe deal seven weeks ago, he was impressed by small forwards P.J. Tucker and Marcus Morris at NBA Summer League and added another small forward, Gerald Green, in this month’s Luis Scola trade to Indiana.“Trading Caron Butler has nothing to do with the Beasley situation,” McDonough said. “We thought this was a good deal for basketball reasons. I’d imagine over the next week or so we would have resolution (regarding Beasley).”"

Butler, talented a player as he is, was not in the long term plans of the Suns and removing his relatively expensive deal was a no-brainer move. So clearly, the move was made for financial reasons, not for the benefit of Beasley.

The Suns have been hitting the phone lines in recent weeks doing everything they can to trade Beasley, but have been finding zero takers. It’s likely he’ll be released in the coming weeks as the Suns need to trim their roster, which stands at 17.