Paul is one of the top point guards in NBA history, as long as Paul is on the floor, he can organize the team well, make the team's offense run in an orderly manner, Paul is an important contributor to the Suns' rise over the years, he was traded by the Suns to the Wizards last offseason, and then the Wizards traded him to the Warriors.
Paul has mainly played as a substitute for the Warriors this season, and according to the NBA's official website, whether Paul is on the court or not has a net efficiency impact of +7.1 on the Warriors, ranking second (the first is Pojam's +8.5), Paul's role is still extraordinary, and because of this, many fans still don't understand why the Suns traded Paul.
The Suns sent Paul, Shamet, six second-round picks, and four first-round swap picks to the Wizards last offseason in exchange for Beal, Todd, and Goodwin, and the Suns paid a lot of chips to get Beal. So is this deal worth it for the Suns?
So far, Beal has missed 24 games due to injury this season, and in the 26 games he played, Beal averaged 18.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, shooting 49.6%, shooting 1.5 three-pointers per game, 34.5% three-point shooting, and the Suns were 16-10 when he played. Durant (+5), Allen (+4.3).
Judging from this data, the Suns traded to Bill and did not meet expectations, but looking at another data, you will think that the Suns are worth trading Paul for Beal, what kind of data? Bill has not let go of playing most of this season, after all, there are two good players in the team, Durant and Booker, but in some games, Beal let go of playing, and Beal at this time showed his value - amazing scoring explosiveness. For example, against the Lakers, Beal made 14 of 21 (8 of 10 three-pointers), 1 of 1 free throw, and scored 37 points. Against the Wizards today, Durant and Booker didn't shoot much, they wanted Beal to take over the game, Beal broke out again, 16 of 21 (4 of 5 three-pointers), 7 of 7 free throws, cut 43 points, and helped the Suns beat the Wizards by 28 points.
As it turns out, when Beal let go, he was still one of the top scorers in the NBA today, after all, he averaged 30+ points per game in a single season twice, which the 38-year-old Paul did not have. In terms of organization, Beal is far inferior to Paul, but Beal's independent scoring ability is also far above the 38-year-old Paul. When it comes to the playoffs against strong teams, the super independent scoring ability may be more useful than organizational combing, the Suns failed to win the Nuggets in the playoffs last year when they had Paul, and without Paul they relied on Booker + Durant's release to win the Nuggets 2 games, and now there is one more Bill who can cut high scores, maybe Beal can't make the Suns' regular season record very good, but Beal's arrival can improve the Suns' playoff ceiling. That's why the Suns traded Paul to Bill.