Bradley Beal reported for his 12th NBA Training Camp this week. But for the first time, instead of heading to the District of Columbia, Brad took up residence in the desert, set to begin his first season in Phoenix with the Suns.

Brad met the media in Phoenix for the second time on Monday, since being traded over from Washington in July. Now looking at a more complete Suns roster than he could before the offseason was over, Brad was able to properly assess his teammates and the expectations facing his new franchise, and Phoenix’s new No. 3 couldn’t hold back a smile.

“It’s unreal. It is unreal. Credit to Mat [Ishbia, Suns Owner], his vision and him putting that effort forth of wanting to build this thing as a winning caliber team, and James [Jones, Suns GM] and Josh [Bartelstein, Suns CEO] they stamped it. It’s amazing to be a part of. This is easily the best team I’ve ever been a part of.”

The summer of 2023 was a season of change for Brad, who hasn’t experienced much of that in his adult life. After growing up in St. Louis, he spent one year at the University of Florida before being drafted by the Wizards and spending the next decade in D.C. In an NBA world now ruled by constant trades and roster shuffling, Brad never had to uproot.

But when that changed, BB decided to embrace the unknown and he’s glad that he did.

“I’ve never been used to change or a fan of change. But this is the first time in my career I’m sitting back and being open minded to everything and the transition has been awesome,” he revealed. “I want to thank everyone from the organization to every citizen I’ve crossed paths with, because they’ve made our move and our transition very smooth…everything’s been great. Like I said I’m not used to change, but I’ve embraced it all, I’ve been open minded and this is better than what I could have imagined…I feel embraced here. I feel welcomed here.”

After the trade, Brad joined a Suns team led by All-NBA point guard Devin Booker and 13-time All-Star Kevin Durant. But after acquiring BB and Jordan Goodwin from the Wizards, the Suns front office kept on working to fill out the roster, signing several players including guard Eric Gordon. Then, just a few weeks ago, they made another blockbuster trade sending big man DeAndre Ayton out and bringing back Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, Grayson Allen and Keon Johnson. The moves gave Phoenix considerable depth behind their star core.

Although the Suns are a team driven by star power, they’ve entered 2023 Training Camp preaching hard work from the top to the bottom of the organization. That mentality began to manifest in the summer when Kevin Durant and Devin Booker reached out to their new teammate to set up team workouts.

“From day one, once I got the call, K and Dev, they were on it, getting in the gym. But not only them, everybody is in the gym. We’re talking early in the morning to late at night. I’m excited to be a part of a group like this,” Brad said. “You can see the hunger and the drive. You can see the culture we’re trying to build and what this organization is trying to push for. It’s like a contagious effect. You see one guy doing it and the next guy’s doing it and it just trickles down. It’s a domino [effect]…Being in the facility every day to see the work ethic from everybody, to see everybody just working toward the same common goal, that kind of changes your mental and pushes you to a new level.”

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What does that new level look like to a three-time All-Star and All-NBA guard who has already broken the 30 points per game barrier on two occasions? Brad isn’t revealing his personal goals for the 2023-24 season, but the team goal is pretty obvious.

“I feel like in years past I’ve always said my goals, but I’m going to hold them to my chest because I want the team’s goals to be louder than what mine are. And they should be, especially at this point in my career. I’ve done a lot of things. I’ve scored so many points. I’ve been an All-Star, been All-NBA. There’s just that one more box I want to check,” he said. “I think that takes the crown over everything that I want individually. Obviously I’m still competitive, I have my goals, but I’m gonna hold them close to my chest.”

So just how excited is Brad to get going and play in actual games with his new team?

“It’s kind of hard to explain. [I’m] like a kid in a candy store. I’m just excited. Hard to put into words. Just embracing every single moment of it. That’s been my approach,” he said. “I’m mentally checked in and I’m ready to get going tomorrow.”

The Suns officially open Training Camp on Tuesday, October 2nd and have less than a week to prepare for their first preseason game, Sunday, October 8th in Detroit.