The Wizards have now given Bradley Beal permission to talk to other teams about a potential trade, any club that he and his agent are interested in.
Quite the juxtaposition from earlier this week, when everything was a whole lot of conjecture.
“This appears to be happening, and we’ve gone, in 72 hours, from wondering if Beal would waive his no-trade clause and if the new front office would blow it up to, more likely than not, he won’t be here,” Grant Paulsen said Friday.
“All the smoke, all the fire…here we are,” Danny replied. “Help us finalize this deal, and start working, because the element that has to happen is that his no-trade clause gives him so much power, you have to work something out in structure and bring it to the Wizards to make sure Beal is satisfied. That’s essential to get a deal done when you have a guy like Beal who has so much power.”
Danny made up a hypothetical trade of what they might want from, say, Miami, and how Beal could veto it based on his hypothetical, but he knows “we are in the final stages of this thing, and it’s moving at light speed.”
Still, Grant knows there’s a chance the trade will look “really, really bad” around the league, based on the gulf between perception and reality.
“There to me is a massive disconnect when I hear people talk around the NBA talk about Beal, and how we understand him as a player,” Grant said. “Nationally, and in the media, it’s as if this massive superstar is available, and people expect a blockbuster deal – and that is not what is about to happen. They are just going to unload this contract.”
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The hope is for multiple draft picks and/or some young players, but as Danny had said earlier, Grant knows Beal will not let the team he’s going to give up a big piece as part of the trade.
“He has a ton of leverage, in both where he goes and what Washington will get back,” Grant said.
Both men agree Beal needs to go…but is there a point of no return?
“Even if the haul is downright bad because he only wants one place or something…is there a walk-away point for you as to what you get?” Danny asked. “In other words, you get a bad contract or two and don’t get a pick – is there a point where you wonder if it’s better to hold onto him and try to trade him during the season?
“You got the wrong guy. Nope,” Grant said, and Danny immediately shot back: “Same.”
“We have a lot of listeners who are big Wizards fans, and I’ve heard people say you can’t trade him for 7 cents on the dollar – and there is something to be said for that as bad GM-ing” Grant said. “But in this case, I don’t think there is such a thing as bad GM-ing, if you’re getting out of this contract.”
Follow Grant & Danny on Twitter: @granthpaulsen & @funnydanny
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