Let's make a Beal

The Wizards and Bradley Beal are reportedly (finally) open to looking at trades if the team decides to rebuild.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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The Prom Notebook; Jean-Louis Forain; 1888

The Bradley Beal-Washington Wizards break-up has been years in the making. The Wizards stopped being really competitive after John Wall’s disastrous injuries rendering his contract a complete team-building albatross, magnified by the team’s struggles to draft highly productive players over the past decade despite plenty of lottery opportunities. Beal seemed wed to the idea of the Wizards OR the idea of maximizing every bit of his contract potential (you decide) and hung around until he could land a maximal max contract with a no-trade clause. Good business if you can get it.

New folks are in charge of Wizardland these days, and apparently the tide is out.

Woj:

As rival teams begin reaching out to the Washington Wizards to explore the possibility of trading for three-time All-Star guard Bradley Beal, team president Michael Winger and Beal's agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, are staying in close contact to discuss scenarios presented to the franchise, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

Shams and Company:

The Washington Wizards’ new front-office leaders and Bradley Beal have a mutual understanding that they intend to work together to find a trade that would send the three-time All-Star guard to a contender if the team elects to reset the organization, league sources tell The Athletic.

Despite all parties seemingly trying to frame this as a “maybe” … it’s pretty clear where this is headed. He’s gone.

Marc Stein

says as much on The Stein Line:

For all the efforts in print Wednesday to paint the situation as exploratory, few rival teams see it that way. The Miami Heat are already widely regarded as the favorites to win the trade sweepstakes for Beal — largely because Beal, possessing the NBA's only active full no-trade clause in his contract, will have so much say in where he goes.

Between the reports, the teams mentioned include the Heat, Bucks, Knicks and Kings. I suspect as the availability of Beal propagates more teams will be mentioned. It would certainly behoove the Wizards to have at least the appearance of a rich competitive field to win Beal’s services.

I know everyone will be focused on the number of draft picks the new Wizards front office can pull for Beal, but the fact that Washington does not have a blue chip young player on the roster gives me heartburn, and so focusing on trying to find that might be more important. OKC picked up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the Paul George deal. The Nets picked up Mikal Bridges in the Kevin Durant deal. The Jazz didn’t just get future draft picks in their trades of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell: they got Walker Kessler and Lauri Markkanen.

Is it Tyler Herro? Keegan Murray? R.J. Barrett? Thanasis Antetokounmpo? (Sorry, I’m struggling to see the Bucks package here.) Jaden Hardy? Tyrese Maxey? OG Anunoby?

The other question here is if the market for these “good” teams fizzles (using the word “good” loosely there) whether Beal is open-minded enough to approve a trade to a team on the upswing. The Magic, for example, could likely put together a better package for the Wizards than most of these competitors, and Beal spending the remainder of his prime building with Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr. (plus Markelle Fultz if he stays) seems like a high-potential situation.

Add one or both of Orlando’s 2023 lottery picks to this and … maybe?

In any case, Beal is officially the most exciting name likely to move this summer. We’ll see if any other big names join him.