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.
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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.
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.
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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.