A couple of weeks ago, the new Wizards front office said that moving someone of Bradley Beal’s caliber was a “last resort” – but when WaPo’s Ava Wallace joined the Junkies Monday morning, hours after reports broke that the Wiz are finalizing a deal to send Beal to Phoenix, she was not surprised the tune changed so quickly.
“I am not surprised at all, they had a lot of impetus to get this done – ahead of the draft, especially, but there are a couple of other big names expected to hit the market soon, like Damian Lillard,” Wallace said. “They wanted to get this done before they had more competition for All-Stars going places that Beal also wanted to go.”
The return haul looks to be Chris Paul (who may be flipped or bought out), Landry Shamet (only one guaranteed year), second-round picks, and a picks swap – or, as Cakes said, ‘peanuts’ – but it’s because they didn’t expect a king’s ransom that the Wizards were able to deal Beal do quickly.
“They were able to get it done so quickly because they had no leverage in the deal thanks to that no-trade clause,” Wallace said. “It really hampered the team, and they had nothing to say. Beal was able to give them a list of places he wanted to go, and yeah, they got peanuts back for a guy who really is still in his prime. I totally understand the frustration, and I think the Wizards were expecting something like that, but you have to ask, what was the price of freedom from that contract?”
The deal just had to be done, and Cakes said ‘any deal is a huge win for the Wizards no matter what they got back,’ and that’s a testament to the new front office.
“Michael Winger and Will Dawkins both came up in OKC, where this is their bread and butter; they know if they can get scraps of draft equity, we can work with that and make something happen,” Wallace said. “And, with Chris Paul, they will be able to listen to offers from a third team, where they may be able to squeeze something out of it as well.”
Paul will likely be moved pre-draft, and if not, likely bought out, and it seems like the number of picks and the terms of the swap are yet to be determined, but they will get a few million dollars of a trade exception as well, so it’s ‘at least a jump-start on the process.’
There were also a few other teams named in reports of a possible Beal deal, and according to Wallace, the Wizards ‘heard calls from a lot of teams, but Beal’s interests were mostly Miami, Phoenix, and Milwaukee was in there at one point.’
“Listening to opposing head coaches talk before games, Beal was still highly-respected and a nightmare to defend, so it’s no surprise a lot of teams wanted him – and he’s never had any off-court issues, either,” Wallace said. “He’s a guy you can basically plug-and-play.”
Now, Phoenix has $163 million invested in four players – Beal, Kevin Durant, DeAndre Ayton, and Devin Booker – and with a new salary cap coming, that Big 4 may need to be bigger than ever for the Suns to succeed.
“They better win a title, right?” Wallace laughed. “That’s the part of the deal you think about – I don’t know how much I love it for Phoenix, because they didn’t get younger of flashier. There’s a lot of overlap between Beal and Booker’s games, and I do wonder how Beal will play in the Western Conference.”
The Draft is next, and Wallace believes they will be looking to potentially move that pick to ‘maximize options,’ and then it’s the opt-ins for Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis – the former expected to opt-out as he said, and the latter seemingly ready to opt-in due to his contract, but potentially get moved.
Listen to Wallace’s entire conversation with the Junkies above!
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