Greg says Nuggets' title highlights how dysfunctional Celtics were
Just one year into his five-year, $251 million supermax extension, Bradley Beal could be on the trade block. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Wednesday that Beal and the Washington Wizards will work together to find a trade if the team elects to reset its roster in the near future.
The Celtics have been linked to Beal in the past, with a driving factor being the relationship between him and Jayson Tatum, who grew up as friends in St. Louis. While the thought of teaming up the two was fun in the past, that ship has likely sailed now.
It’s almost certain that any deal involving Beal and the Celtics would have to include Jaylen Brown, both from a financial and a talent standpoint. If the Wizards are going to be entering a rebuilding stage, they are not going to want a 29-year-old Marcus Smart, 30-year-old Malcolm Brogdon, or a soon-to-be 29-year-old Derrick White.
When a team enters a rebuild, they also tend to look for draft picks. Given that the Celtics are right in the middle of their championship window and don’t have any high picks, Washington probably wouldn’t be looking for late first-round or second-round picks.
From a financial standpoint, with Brown eligible for a supermax contract up to $295 million this offseason and Tatum eligible for a $318 million supermax next season, there simply won’t be enough cap space to add Beal’s supermax on top of those.
So now you have to think, is it really worth trading Brown for Beal? The answer is simple: Absolutely not.
While the frustration from fans regarding Brown coming off a tough Eastern Conference Finals series against the Heat is warranted, it’s important to look at things in the big picture and realize just how important Brown is to how far the Celtics have come and where they are trying to go.
Not to mention, Beal turns 30 later this month and has appeared in just 90 games over the course of the last two seasons.
Once one of the league’s premier scorers, Beal has seen a drop-off since he averaged 30 points per game in back-to-back seasons in 2019 and 2020. Over the last two seasons, he has averaged 23.2 points per game on 48% shooting, while Brown has averaged 25.1 points per game on 48.3% shooting. Brown has also played in 43 more games and has been named an All-Star and Second Team All-NBA in that stretch.
Beal has also faced plenty of criticism for his play on the defensive end, an area that is so important to the success of the Celtics.
With the Celtics zeroed in on reaching a contract extension with Brown, a Beal trade would make no sense, and would only shorten their window and complicate things for the future.
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