2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

I'd be stoked for Beal but he is under contract for 4 more seasons. He can't really demand a trade with that much time left (see what just happened/is happening with KD) so Washington would have to want to trade him for 2027 and 2029 draft picks just months after signing him to that extension. They're 8-7 right now and have been trying to make the playoffs for years, I'm not sure they're in that headspace right now. To me, it seems likely that they won't pivot to trading Beal until the offseason at the very earliest. I do think there's real for potential for a Beal trade, but that's still off on the horizon IMO.

 

My first thought was “What? Beal isn’t a shooter?”

I’ve always had this perception of him being an elite perimeter shooter. Just looked into his three point shooting stats:

2018: 37.5%
2019: 35.1%
2020: 35.3%
2021: 34.9%
2022: 30.0%
This year so far: 32.5%

Not exactly inspiring…

To abeer’s point, he probably still spaces the floor and you can probably attribute some of those shooting numbers to him being the focus of defensive attention on a bad Wizards team. And the above 3 point numbers are while he mostly still continues to shoot well overall from the field and put up massive scoring numbers.

And I do think he’d be a great fit next to Lebron and AD…

But that contract is atrocious: $43M, $47M, $50M, $54M, $57M

If my math is correct that means he’ll be making $57 million when he’s 34 years old. As a small guard with injury history, factor in the expected Laker shooting slump… trading for Beal could quickly go from “Lakers finally got a real Big 3” to “WTF why did the Lakers give up their draft picks for another untradeable albatross contract! Why didn’t they learn it’s not possible to build around 3 max players anymore?”

If Woj suddenly announced Beal to the Lakers, I wouldn’t be able to help myself from being super excited and hopeful… but man on paper I think it’s just too risky.

 

Upgrade over Russ... i don't think so. Especially not with that contract

 

Yeah I too thought of Beal as a shooter until I had a look at the numbers. I think it comes from his scoring outbursts and seasons of averaging 30+ ppg whenever he was healthy. Looks like he’s more of a pure scorer and some playmaking.

He would kind of fill the role we were hoping for in a Kyrie trade but man Beal’s contract is a huge turnoff.

 

if he shot 45% from three and was paid 25 per, we'd have no shot at him.

i think you leave him alone from three at your own peril. and nobody does. and i don't know if i'd call him a "small guard" either, as he's about 6'5".

his contract goes through his age-33 season, and history would suggest he's probably done as an allstar the year before that. so you get two years of legit all star caliber sg play at a pretty inflated price.

anyway, i'm on the record as being anti-three star, but if we could get beal with what we have to offer, i'd have to take a hard look at it. and i might come to the conclusion that it's not the right move, too. though i'd say it beats the options i've seen so far AND beats going into the summer with cap space, imo.

 

I’d be curious if part of your open mindedness to trade for Beal is that you see it as NOT necessarily being a “big 3” play, but envisioning him as a good fit as the second star next to AD in a post-Lebron world?

I think without Lebron that probably gives you more cap flexibility to build an actual team around AD/Beal. The two seem like a good pairing on paper so you could remain competitive while also developing continuity long-term.

But I think the reality is that if we traded for Beal, we’d be doubling down on the Lebron situation. I don’t see us making that trade and then following it up by trading Lebron next summer. I also don’t necessarily see Lebron walking away from Beal and AD after his contract expires.

And that’s my main issue with the idea, I think it would lock us into the “big 3” team building philosophy for even longer, and that just seems less and less viable as Lebron continues to age.

 

Beal catch and shoot 3s:

22-23 39%
21-22 29%
20-21 39% (with Russ)

For reference, this year is on par with Reaves and 20-21 is worse than Caruso
I agree you don't leave him alone and it would help spacing the floor for LeBron/AD, but still not a good fit.

Defensively, in 2020 Bleacher Report made an article with the worst defenders per position. Guess who was slot at SG...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bu...ions-on-bradley-beals-performance-this-season

"Most of the numbers don’t say Beal’s mediocre on defense, they say he’s bad. ESPN’s defensive Real Plus-Minus metric ranks him 111th out of 114 at shooting guard this season. Just looking at simple on/off data, the Wizards are 8.4 points per 100 possessions better defensively when he’s not in the game."

He always had an usage rate over 30 per season, including 34% with Russ. Is down 26 this year. For reference, LeBron is at 32.

I really don't like the fit

 

After what we’ve gone through with Russ, I’m forever against the “Three Star” method of building a team.
Beal’s contract is reDonkulous for a guy that is oft injured and has never been known to be reliable on the defensive end.
Still in on giving up one First for Turner. At least if we decided to give him a new deal, the numbers(I’m assuming) wouldn’t destroy our ability to add other pieces in the future. Plus, if it does go down, and is in the $20 mill per year range, it’s still a tradeable asset.

 

But, but, but he’s a “Star!” This is all that matters. Why do you have to bring up the fact that he has so many flaws! His brilliance as a star will outshine all of the measurable statistics!
Our beloved FO is going after the wrong player, again. SMH.

 

As I said earlier, I am still quietly hoping we bring in some good role players.

if a name player comes available I have no doubt we will be all over it if possible.

 

yeah, i can easily be talked out of beal. and i'm not sure it's a serious thing, either. but if it is--or if people we negotiate with think it is--this can help us.

 

Competitive depth>>>3rd star to me. You would think Rob would have had enough of surrounding Lebron and AD with vet minimum guys.

 

Right, again not getting why this Beal noise is causing an uproar…

It’s fun to speculate about, but I still don’t think (a) our front office is really that gung-ho about it and (b) it’s that realistic in the first place.

As far as I can tell, all this noise stems from a single tidbit of info that came from a Chris Haynes article (which was obviously sourced by Klutch, NOT the front office). And then there was one other article where an “anonymous executive” offered their opinion of the idea floated by Haynes.

Knowing that it came from Klutch, I honestly read it as “let’s float the idea of a real star like Beal so Laker fans get excited and put more pressure on the Lakers FO to do something”

Nothing sourced by the FO indicating that Beal is actually our primary target as far I know.

 

Kind of feel like we are going to get an out of nowhere Lakers move like we used to get and I would welcome that as long as it is a good player.

The media posturing from all involved has just worn on me.