On June 14, Shams Charania revealed that the Washington Wizards were working with franchise cornerstone Bradley Beal to find a trade the veteran would agree to. Beal has played his entire career in Washington after being drafted in 2012. However, despite Beal’s caliber, the Wizards had always let him down in terms of a supporting cast. After a handful of Conference Semifinal appearances in the late-2010s, Washington has just one playoff appearance in the last five years.
A variety of teams were immediately floated as good theoretical fits for Beal. However, Beal’s incredibly weighty contract ($207.7 million over the next four seasons) is a major part of the negotiations. Furthermore, Beal will be going from being the top player on the Wizards to like the second or third player on another team. A figure like $207.7 million is a lot of money for a guy who isn’t your best player. Despite this four teams have so far been linked with a move to acquire Beal - the Heat, the Bucks, the Kings, and the Nets. However, it appears that the trade talks are starting to heat up.
Heat And Suns Emerge As Frontrunners For Beal
Per Charania, the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns have emerged as finalists to acquire Beal's services. The Suns, who were not previously mentioned in trade rumors, make for an intriguing trade partner. The team is looking to restructure after falling well short of their "win-now" objective for 2023. A trade for Beal could see DeAndre Ayton, Chris Paul, or both, heading to Washington. That would set up a Big Three of Beal, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker anchoring the Suns next season.
Meanwhile, the Heat are $67.3 million over the cap. Furthermore, the Heat do not have a lot of weighty contracts they could offload to Washington to balance out Beal’s. A hypothetical trade could force the Heat to give up a lot of good depth talent. This could be somewhat mitigated by draft picks. Despite this, they will still need to find some way to balance the books to accommodate Beal's massive contract. That said, securing Beal would allow the Heat to field their own Big Three of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Beal. Where do you think Beal will end up? Let us know in the comments. Follow all the latest sports news here at HotNewHipHop.
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