Bradley Beal – G – Washington Wizards
One of the biggest moves of this past offseason was when the Washington Wizards came out of nowhere and traded for Russell Westbrook, sending John Wall and a future protected first-round pick to the Houston Rockets. This was a big deal for Washington because with rumors circulating about Bradley Beal’s future with the organization, they made it clear they are “all-in” on trying to win now and will do whatever it takes to do so.
However, Washington has not started the season the way they had hoped, as they are currently 3-8 and near the bottom of the entire league. If things do not begin to change soon, Bradley Beal may request a trade from the Rockets, especially since he is watching plenty of other All-Stars find success in new places.
Not only was Bradley Beal snubbed from the All-Star game last year, but he was also snubbed from making an All-NBA team after a fantastic season. Although the Wizards were not a great team last year, Beal averaged 30.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists and shot 45.5% from the floor and 35.3% from three-point range.
Very few players in the league can score in bunches like Bradley Beal can, and he proved that early on this year, when he went for 60 points on 20-35 from the floor, 7-10 from three-point range, against the Philadelphia 76ers. Beal scored 60 points and the Wizards still lost the game!
This alone proves that no matter what Beal does, the Wizards are not close to being a playoff team at the moment, which could lead to him wanting to be traded sooner than later.
The only teams that Bradley Beal would likely want to be traded to are the ones competing for championships and with him being in the final year of his contract, plenty of teams would probably be willing to give up the young assets and draft picks to acquire him and potentially sign him long-term.
A few teams that come to mind in the Bradley Beal sweepstakes are the Heat, Mavericks, 76ers and possibly even the Golden State Warriors. All-in-all, the Wizards are definitely not considering trading Beal, as they want to keep him long-term, but if they do not improve, the script may flip and Bradley Beal could request a trade out of Washington.
