The Sixers are going through some changes this offseason but that may not mean a big swing to bring Bradley Beal to Philadelphia.
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons recently called the Sixers the “odds-on favorite” to land Beal this summer, citing the Washington Wizards star’s friendship with Joel Embiid, among other things. However, that may not be the case.
Kyle Neubeck of the Audacy Original Podcast “Clap Your Hands” explained why he thinks the Sixers won’t trade for Beal this summer.
“I do not think the Sixers are trading for Bradley Beal. I have a pretty strong inclination that they’re not that interested in him,” Neubeck said (47:15 in player above). “I would say the first big problem is the contract, and the reason you would be able to get him in a Tobias-centric deal is that in 2026-27 – now he will have a player option but I’d be shocked if he’s good enough over the next few years to turn this down and hope for a better deal. He has a player option for 2026-27 for $57 million and he is going to make, at minimum, $46.7 million over the next three years with the crescendo before the player option at $53.6 million in 2025-26.”
Beal signed a five-year, $251 million maximum contract to stay with the Wizards last summer. He averaged 23.2 points per game in just 40 contests in the season prior to that and stayed at that number in 50 games last season.
“I think there’s a decent case that’s one of the worst current contracts in the league when you consider that since Beal had his back-to-back 30-point seasons, he hasn’t been healthy,” Neubeck continued. “He’s played in a total of 90 games over the last two years. His scoring’s gone down to about 23 points per game, which is fine but when you’re the guy on a bulls–t team in Washington, scoring 23 points a game on OK efficiency in 2021-22 and good efficiency in 2022-23, but again, deck chair on the Titanic.
“I don’t really see the vision for him as one of your most important guys on a title team. If you’re talking about whether it’s a situation where Harden is still here and they try to build a superteam as the league is trying to disincentivize teams from building superteams or Harden leaves and they’re looking to retool and still compete. I think in either option it’s not great because I think the defensive backcourt with him and Harden would be a level of apathy that would surpass any defensive apathy we’ve ever seen in basketball before.”
In his prime, Beal averaged 30.5 points and 31.3 points per game in back-to-back seasons as the go-to guy in Washington. However, that’s dropped significantly in recent years as Neubeck noted.
Beal still has the name appeal and could be a good option to pair with someone like Embiid, but it ultimately may not make enough sense for the Sixers to pull the trigger.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram