The Suns are in a now-or-never situation and the team needs a Bradley Beal solution. With 17 games left in the season, the Phoenix side has a lot of work to do to get a spot in the Play-in tournament. Currently standing in the 11th seed, 1 1/2 games behind the Mavericks for the 10th seed, the team needs everyone on the roster locked in and healthy. Amid this decisive phase, Bradley Beal once again suffered a calf injury—a recurring injury that has bothered the guard throughout the season.

However, Coach Mike Budenholzer had enough of it. Tonight, ahead of the Grizzlies matchup at FedEx Forum, the 55-year-old coach charted out a plan for the controversial guard.

It’s a maintenance plan to keep Bradley Beal healthy. Speaking ahead of the game, Coach Mike said, “He’s our guy that gets downhill and attacks. I would say us trying to be ahead of his body and his health,” and hinted at benching the guard for the second half of the upcoming back-to-back games. Tonight’s Grizzlies’ game was also the latter half of a back-to-back, so a reporter asked if the Suns would bench him going forward.

Budenholzer couldn’t confirm it, as he said, “I’m not going to make any declarations or anything… Definitely feel like, for Brad and for all of us, this is a good way to approach the back-to-back in this case.” Moreover, he also revealed that Beal would return to action on Wednesday to take on the Rockets. Last night, the  31-year-old took over the floor with an impressive 19 points and 6 assists outing. A performance that the coach described as, “Every night, he kind of takes a pounding.”

Following the controversial phase on the Suns’ roster, the veteran guard has finally found his calling in the team. Can he convert it into a valuable return for the team? Only time will tell.

Bradley Beal and his unsettled run with the Suns 

When Beal joined Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, the league was threatened. It was the Big 3 that no one expected. However, the hype dropped down gradually when the trio nearly took three months to make their debut together. One or the other got injured, and it was on the 25th game when they united.

Even then, it wasn’t a settled run, as Beal kept coming in and out of the roster with back and ankle injuries. Most importantly, the trio faced a major embarrassment when they lost 0-4 in the playoff first round against the Wolves. This season, things took a drastic change. Fans became restless with the trio and publicly called to trade Beal. 

In fact, there was a phase where Jimmy Butler showed interest in the Suns. And the only option was to trade him with Beal. However, the star guard held the no-trade clause and managed to stay with the Valley side. Above all, Coach Bud pushed him to the bench in favor of Ryan Dunn after a series of sub-par performances. 

While it seemed to work for a bit, it didn’t translate to the win column. So, the coach had to bring Beal back to the starting lineup. Above all, he has missed 20 games this season dealing with multiple injuries including the nagging calf injury. Going ahead in the season, the Suns have one back-to-back game scheduled on March 16 and 17 against the Lakers and Raptors, respectively. Will they bench him? Let us know in the comments.