There was Beal and there was Poole, those were the two options that seemed to be on the table for Paul's contract. IMO, Poole would have been equally damaging, his contract isn't as bad as Beal's but his play is far worse, he's the tank commander of the worst team in the NBA, they play far better when he is on the bench.
We should have taken the GS deal regardless, I don't think we will see better.
And we don't know what the future held for those teams, they had flexibility all their picks and other premium assets, they could have done a thousand different things.
This teams fate was sealed when Ishbia did the knee jerk trade for Durant and took a deal that the Suns previously had been unwilling to make. Sarver was right to not want him at that price, the price was ruinous, Ishbia didn't care because he didn't know how long it took for the franchise to dig out of the dirt and as a result he has buried them deeper than they've ever been.