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, the Wizards have never been able to put a team around Beal that would contend in any meaningful way.
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, a number of teams are starting to emerge as potential suitors.
Heat And Bucks Named Among Beal Suitors
Per reports from both Brian Windhorst and Shams Charania, the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks have both emerged as frontrunners for Beal’s services. Both teams are contenders, with the Heat coming over a Finals appearance. That should appeal to Beal, who holds a blanket no-trade clause. The problem is going to be Beal’s contract and what the teams are willing to give up for it. The Bucks are in a worse position right now. They are $87.7 million over the cap (Beal is owed $46.7 million in 2023/24). They also don’t have a lot of contracts to play with without giving up too much. Khris Middleton is an option. However, that requires both Middleton to exercise his player option and the Wizards to take a guy coming off major surgery.
Meanwhile, the Heat are $67.3 million over the cap. While the number is a little nicer, the Heat also 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. Draft picks will also likely feature in the deal, which is another positive for Miami. The Bucks’ draft chest is very light for the next few years, meaning there are not a lot of premium picks to offer Washington. Meanwhile, the Heat do have a lot of picks at their disposal. Despite all this, this is a developing story and any updates can be found here at HotNewHipHop.
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