There are a lot of interesting parts to the lead-up to Bradley Beal being traded to the Phoenix Suns – but if you ask NBA TV and SiriusXM host Brian Geltzeiler, as Grant & Danny did Tuesday, the fact that Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, is the father of Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein, is not something to look into.
“Here’s what I’ll say there – the optics there are poor, but in terms of how a deal like that functions, it’s not all that meaningful,” he said. “I understand how you feel aa a fan and I don’t blame you, but the no-trade clause was 10 times worse, because it put Washington into a spot where they couldn’t field multiple offers; he didn’t say ‘I’ll go to one of these three teams, go find a deal, he decided this is where I want to go, and you have to take a deal from them, because I don’t want to go anywhere else.”
Maybe that’s not negotiating in good faith, Geltzeiler said, but those are the breaks.
“You could say that and you’re probably right, but this this is a power Ted Leonsis and Tommy Sheppard bestowed upon Bradley Beal, so it could’ve been anywhere,” Geltzeiler said. “I don’t know if Josh Bartelstein being the CEO of the Suns is incredibly relevant – again, optics are terrible – but the no-trade clause is what made all of this possible, and that’s the important thing to look at in all this.”
And even more important is that whoever green-lit it, this will probably be the last one anyone gets for a long time – and regardless of who approved it, blame Beal for the way it was used.
“No one else in the NBA has a no-trade clause, and no one is getting one in the next 10 to 15 years when you see what the net result is here,” Geltzeiler said. “Beal really took advantage of it, and if you want to say he didn’t use that clause in good faith, took something they provided to him in good faith and didn’t give it back, I think you’re fair to say that – but I think his agent’s son being the Suns CEO means a whole lot less than the fact that Beal bent the Wizards over a barrel with this no-trade clause.”
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