Washington Wizards star guard Bradley Beal could be traded this Summer and the Philadelphia 76ers are the "odds on favorite," according to The Ringer's Bill Simmons.
"My guess, my bet, the odds on favorite—I would put them -200 would be Philadelphia," Simmons said on the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast. "My odds on favorite is Philadelphia and I don't even think it's close. Beal and [Joel] Embiid, they're friends. Embiid was trying to get him two years ago, which I kept telling people on this podcast. They ended up going with [James] Harden instead, Embiid was pushing hard for Beal. Harden is going to leave.
"If you're Philly and you are going to lose Harden and now I have this shooter, that's probably a better fit with Embiid anyway. And I have Tobias Harris on an expiring contract, couple future draft picks I could probably throw that I could probably find in my pocket somewhere. And, if you're Washington it's like, you know what we got out of the Beal contract. We have Harris as an expiring and we're re-booting everything."
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Back in March, Simmons (as he mentioned in the above quote) reported that Embiid was pushing for the Sixers to add Beal instead of Harden, but ultimately Daryl Morey chose his guy.
"And part of the reason the trade stuff took so long was because there was the Sixers side that wanted Harden—obviously Daryl [Morey] because Harden is his guy," Simmons said in March. "But Embiid really wanted Beal because he felt like he was a better fit and was pushing, pushing, pushing, but then Beal gets hurt. But then Embiid is still pushing. 'No, no, no, Beal, Beal, Beal' still working on him. And then Beal is like 'I'm out' and he gets surgery and that's how we end up with the Harden situation."
We've been hearing Beal-to-the-Sixers rumors for years now. The 29-year-old three-time All-Star shooting guard is one of the NBA's best pure three-level scorers, averaging 22.1 points per game for his career including back-to-back 30-plus point per game seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Over the last four seasons, Beal has not played for than 60 games, dealing with various injuries.
Beal signed a five-year deal worth $251 million last summer and has massive cap hits of $46.7 million, $50.2 million, $53.7 million, and $57.1 million (player-option) over the next four seasons.
Harris, 30, is in the final year of his contract, set to make $39.3 million in 2023-24.
So why would the Wizards even make this kind of trade? Simmons believes Washington Wizards president Michael Winger wants to get out of purgatory and rebuild.
"I think [Winger] wants a real plan and it feels a little blow it up-y to me and I think that's actually what they should do," Simmons said of the Wizards. "They have the seventh [overall] pick, they have some assets. I think Bradley Beal, even though he has a no-trade clause, is going to be traded this Summer."
The idea of an Embiid-Beal-Maxey-Tucker core certainly sounds enticing, there's no denying that.
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