C's among teams expected to be interested in Beal this offseason

C's among teams expected to be interested in Beal this offseason


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Every non-Washington Wizards fan in the NBA wants their team to trade for Bradley Beal. The Wizards have yet to make Beal available.

However, as the team continues to struggle even with Beal and Russell Westbrook at the helm, they may start to entertain offers that could help them to rebuild during the 2021 offseason.

Beal will be entering the final year of his contract during the 2021-22 NBA season. Though he has been loyal to Washington for his entire NBA career, he could choose to go elsewhere if he feels that the team isn't a true title contender. Or the Wizards could decide to fully rebuild and acquire assets for Beal while they still can. As such, Beal will be a hot name on the trade market this summer.

And if he's available, the Boston Celtics will reportedly go after him.

According to Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer, the C's are one of the many teams that would have an interest in swinging a deal for Beal. He notes that Beal could certainly opt to stay, but there would be plenty of options if he wants a change of scenery.

There’s still a real chance Beal stays in Washington for years to come, but as the Wizards rack up losses, teams like the Heat are waiting to pounce. In addition to Miami, multiple league sources say the Celtics, Knicks, and Pelicans are among the teams with interest in pursuing a deal for Beal.
Kevin O'Connor, The Ringer
O'Connor also noted that the Toronto Raptors could be a sleeper candidate to pursue Beal, so there would be a lot of competition for his services. But the main takeaway is that the Celtics would consider trading for Beal to upgrade their team if possible.

Beal would probably favor playing for the C's if he had to leave Washington. He's good friends with Jayson Tatum, a fellow St. Louisan, so if he wants to win and believes he can be the missing piece for the Celtics, perhaps a deal could be worked out.


Chris Miller: Why there is 'no way' Bradley Beal will join Celtics
Executing that deal won't be easy though. The Wizards wouldn't just give up Beal, even ahead of free agency, and the C's would have to find a way to match salary. That would probably mean trading Jaylen Brown in a Beal package or using Kemba Walker to balance the equation.

However, if the C's want to throw Walker in a Beal trade, they'd probably have to pay extra to offload him, as the Wizards wouldn't want to keep him long-term. After all, they already have an expensive, veteran point guard in Westbrook.

While trading for Beal would be appealing, there's no easy path to do so for Boston. Still, it will be worth keeping tabs on the Wizards' top scorer during the offseason. If he's moved to another Eastern Conference team, that could have a big impact on the conference's power structure moving forward.

But as has been stated many times by Celtics insider Chris Forsberg, among others, don't get your hopes up for a Beal trade.

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I do not think the Celtics can get Beal.

Who are we giving up to match salaries with our cap wary management? As pointed out has to be either JB or Kemba.

Who would trade a more athletic, younger, longer wing for Beal, just because he can score better at this point in his career?

Perhaps since Danny has been shopping Kemba last offseason it is viable to think Kemba for Beal, but... Who is our point guard then? Granted Kemba is not much of a passing PG, but still. Beal is a clear wing. So we end up with 3 elite wings + Smart (also a wing) and hopefully Rob as a starting 5.

It is perhaps a better starting 5 than right now, but not by much. And this is assuming Washington would want to swap Beal for Kemba without any sweeteners.

Kemba is older and injury prone, right? Yeah, good luck going for straight up trade. Heck no if I'm WAS.

db

PP becomes our 35 mpg point guard. As he should.

Beal would be an awfully tough get.

Anything is possible, yes, but it would take a major roster move and then some.

The Wiz would rightly want a big return and probably aren't that interested in moving him. For his part he is one of the most loyal players you'll ever find and says he wants to stay in DC. Both parties could even look to extend his expiring deal to something long and lucrative next year.

Bryant will also be back next season giving them a strong low-post presence to compliment Beal and Westbrook. I would think they would see how that one goes before breaking it up.

Beal would indeed be an awfully tough get and I’d love to see him in green.
I do have a concern about his being “loyal” to the Wiz. Is it loyalty or is it it ‘meh, I like it here in DMV, making lots of bread, I’m good’.
I say that because I’ve watched him a lot and he doesn’t seem that bothered by losing as much as I would like to see. (He kee keeed his way through a loss with JT here at the Garden earlier this year)
Pierce at one time wanted to stay but he got to a point where he was tired of losing and wanted out until the  KG, Allen deal went down. Maybe Beal will someday get to that point as well.
Again, I would love to see Beal in Green but if playing on an irrelevant team doesn’t bother him then ...many not?

bobheckler wrote:I'd love to get Beal, who in their right mind wouldn't, but we'd have to give up one of the Js to get him, in my opinion, at the minimum.

Is Beal worth Jaylen, plus?  That's the question that needs to be answered.  Beal has two years left on his contract after this one, $34.5M and $37M.  Think about the impact on our salary cap.  Smart is coming up for a contract after next year.


Bob


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I’m hoping not but I have a feeling that Smart is gonna be a goner sooner than soon.