Washington Wizards, a.k.a the athleteHe’s seriously considering trade offers for three-time All-Star guard Bradley Beal from the Miami Heat and the Phoenix Suns, Shams Charania reported earlier Saturday.
According to league sources, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss trade talks, Miami will be sending guards Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson, along with several first-round picks, to Washington for the Bell. Phoenix will send center Deandre Ayton and additional cover filler or include future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul and Landry Shamet to the Four-Bill Wizards.
The offers signal a rapid escalation in trade talks for Beal, who has agreed with the Wizards to help facilitate a trade if Washington decides to drastically reset its roster ahead of Thursday’s NBA draft. Wizards Governor Ted Leonsis gave his blessing to his team’s new management structure, headed by Monumental Basketball President Michael Winger and General Manager Will Dawkins, to do whatever he deems necessary to revamp the team, which went 35-47 this past season and missed out. Qualifiers for the fourth time in five years. Leonsis fired former general manager Tommy Sheppard in late April.
Bell negotiated a no-trade clause, currently the only one in the NBA, with the Wizards before signing the $251 million five-year maximum salary deal with the team last summer, and he must agree to any potential deal Washington makes with another team, the limit. One of the potential deals the Wizards could make for the 29-year-old. Bell is coming off one of the most efficient seasons of his career, averaging 23.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds last season. He hit better than 50 percent last season for the first time in his career, and his 365 percent on three-pointers is his highest in the past five years.
While the Wizards would prefer guard Tyler Herro to be in any potential deal with Miami, the Heat are, for the time being, trying to keep Herro out of the deal, offering Robinson instead. Bill would give Miami an extra needed scorer to go with Jimmy Butler, Hero and quarterback Bam Adebayo. The Heat are believed to be among Beal’s most traded favorite teams.
Dawkins has a previous relationship with Paul dating back to Oklahoma City’s CP3 (2019-20) season with the Thunder, when he helped lead OKC to an unlikely playoff run, where the Thunder lost a tough seven-game series with the Rockets in the first round in the bubble at Disney. Dawkins spent 15 seasons in the front office for Oklahoma City before taking the GM job in Washington.
Ayton, the first pick overall in the 2018 draft, is out of favor in Phoenix, even though the Suns match the $132.9 million four-year offer sheet Ayton received last year from the Indiana Pacers. Ayton and former coach Monty Williams had a frosty relationship, with Williams benching Ayton during Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinal series with Dallas in 2022. The Suns hired former Lakers, Magic and Pacers coach Frank Vogel earlier this month, But this did not. Their relationship appears to have improved dramatically with 24-year-old Ayton, who posted 18 points and 10 rebounds last season for Phoenix.
Acquiring Ayton could potentially complicate any chances of the Wizards retaining their current starting center back, Kristaps Porziņģis, who faces a deadline next Wednesday on his player selection for the 2023-24 season, for $36m. If Porziņģis declines his player option, he will become an unrestricted free agent next month.
The Suns told Paul earlier this month that she would work with him to resolve his future, whether through a trade, waiver or re-sign him in Phoenix to a smaller deal after being waived. The 38-year-old guard still has two years remaining on the four-year, $120 million contract he signed in 2021. But only $15.8 million of the $30.8 million due for the 2023-24 season is guaranteed if Paul is waived before June. 28, while none of the $30 million owed to Paul in 2024-25 is guaranteed if he cedes it before June 28, 2024. So Washington would only be on the hook for a guaranteed $15.8 million this year in payroll if it acquired Paul for Bell. , but then relinquished it before the twenty-eighth of this year.
(Top photo of Bradley Bell and Chris Paul: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)