Getty Mikal Bridges #1 of the Brooklyn Nets.Gett
If the Brooklyn Nets can’t come to terms with the Portland Trail Blazers on a trade for Damian Lillard, perhaps they can trade for one of his good friends in Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal who will work with the team on a trade if the franchise moves into a rebuild, per Joshua B. Robbins and Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Washington finished five games out of the Play-In Tournament this past season and has not won more than 49 games since the 1978-79 season and went 35-47 in 2022-23.
That is a large part of why many believe it is a matter of when and not if Beal gets traded.
“Ignoring asset packages and their own needs, what teams do we think Bradley Beal would waive his no-trade clause for,” tweeted Sam Quinn of CBS Sports on June 14. “I think there are 11 definite “yes” votes.”
Quinn listed the Nets as well as the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference alone.
The list of Western Conference suitors was just as stacked with perennial playoff teams.
Beal, 29, averaged 23.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds this past season. The points are identical to his output from the 2021-22 campaign, though he did shoot the three-ball better, knocking them down at a 36.5% clip.
Still, Beal’s availability has dropped just as his scoring has with the three-time All-Star suiting up for just 90 games over the past two seasons including 50 this past season.
He is heading into the second year of a five-year, $251 million supermax contract.
Brooklyn’s Best Package for Bradley Beal
The tricky part about trading Beal lies within that no-trade clause: He can veto any destination he doesn’t like but also any package that would strip a preferred destination of the assets needed to remain competitive. This is where the Nets could be uniquely positioned to strike and land one of the game’s premier scorers still in his athletic prime.
Nets get:
– Bradley Beal
Wizards get:
– Spencer Dinwiddie (or Joe Harris)
– Dorian Finney-Smith
– Cam Thomas
– 2023 1st Rd Pick (No. 21 overall via PHX)
– 2023 1st Rd Pick (No. 22 overall)
– 2028 1st Rd Pick
Is this an overpay? Maybe but only slightly since Beal is a) more than two years younger than Kyrie Irving and b) has proven to be more loyal than either Irving or his fellow former Net, Kevin Durant. The Nets are also not dealing with lottery picks now or, if Mikal Bridges is what they think he can be, by the time that final pick conveys in 2028.
Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith are both 30 years old. The former is heading into the final year of his three-year, $54 million contract and comes with a warning about re-investing in him from former Nets assistant general manager Bobby Marks.
Finney-Smith has been open about the possibility that he could be shipped out this offseason.
“We got to see what’s gonna happen too this offseason,” he said during his exit interview via the Nets’ YouTube channel on April 23, one day after the Nets were swept out of the postseason for the second year in a row. “I mean if we’re going to be honest, everybody hears what’s going on.”
Thomas, 22, has proven to be a dynamite scorer but little else which has not been enough to earn steady minutes under head coach Jacque Vaughn.
Thomas’ inclusion is what the Nets would be hoping pushes the deal over the top and could be the final piece they add or one they include instead of offering one of the picks. Harris can be swapped in for Dinwiddie – who might take issue with teaming back up with Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma.
Brooklyn could also try to include Patty Mills to further reduce the damage of taking on roughly $5.5 million in additional salary with Beal’s contract. And it might not take as much to pry Beal loose due to that exorbitant contract meaning the Nets could start from a far lower place.
Ben Simmons Still a Sunk Cost
Perhaps the Nets can convince Washington to take on Ben Simmons’ remaining $78-plus million over the next two seasons. But his contract has been described as one of if not the worst in the league coming off of back-to-back injury-plagued campaigns including missing the entire 2021-22 season.
Simmons’ recovery from back surgery last May is said to be coming along well with the three-time All-Star posting pictures of himself working out on social media.
It will likely take more than that to convince the Wizards’ new front office he is an asset.
Otherwise, they are sure to have more palatable offers for Beal which is why the above package may be their best shot and getting a deal done. They get Beal while keeping enough of their 3-and-D wings to support him including their breakout star in Bridges.
Meanwhile, the Wizards get a pure bucket-getter in Thomas, several draft picks, and a couple of veterans they can look to flip in subsequent deals to further their rebuilding efforts. All of that is a ways off, though, with Washington not yet fully picking a direction and Nets general manager Sean Marks seemingly in no hurry to dive headfirst back into the superstar game.
