The Washington Wizards began the 2021-22 NBA season quite strong having won 10 of their initial 13 games. Since that point, they have gone 13-23 in the midst of a five-game losing streak. Once again, the team is struggling to compete for a playoff spot with Bradley Beal as the franchise cornerstone.
Last season, the Wizards pulled off a strong late-season push led by Russell Westbrook and Beal to even gain position to earn a spot in the inaugural play-in tournament. The team managed to win their way into the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, but the result was a 4-1 series loss in the first-round exit at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Now, there is no co-star to raise his game in order to help Beal carry Washington into playoff contention in the stretch-run of the regular season. The Wizards instead has received underwhelming results from their marquee offseason addition, Spencer Dinwiddie, who has been in recent NBA news as being unliked in the locker room and being described as a ‘shell of himself’ amid his poor play.
Beal isn’t having quite as strong of a season as he had in 2020-21 when he was in a heated race for the NBA’s scoring title with Stephen Curry. Still, Beal is averaging 23.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 6.6 assists while converting just 30.0 percent of his three-point attempts. He’s shown intriguing playmaking flashes handling more point guard responsibility but again, his shooting hasn’t quite recovered yet.
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The reality for the Wizards is that having Kyle Kuzma as a second-best player on a team looking to contend in a loaded Eastern Conference is just not going to cut it. Without the means to improve much going forward, Washington faces the unfortunate reality of potentially losing their star player as the end of his contract nears.
Beal is eligible for a five-year, $242 million supermax contract with the Wizards if he he opts out of his $36 million player option during the upcoming offseason. Perhaps one perspective that should be weighed is why would Washington want to pay a supermax to a star player they have routinely underachieved with? Keep in mind, a player who signs a supermax cannot be traded for a full year.
With the NBA trade deadline approaching, the reporting around the league expresses that it remains unlikely for the Wizards to move Beal but every player on the roster aside from him has already been labeled as ‘available’ in trade talks. Could the state of affairs change in the offseason? Perhaps there’s a suitor to keep an eye on.
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The Philadelphia 76ers still need to move on from Ben Simmons in a trade and it appears increasingly likely for a move to occur in the offseason. The Sixers’ short-list of names they’d accept has consisted of the likes of Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, James Harden, Jaylen Brown, and perimeter stars of that caliber. With the Wizards’ continued struggles, could a swap between the Sixers and Wizards be the best mutual route to take?
A lot would depend on the Wizards’ perception of Simmons and Beal’s desire to contend for a championship instead of signing a supermax contract. If Beal wants to go where he can contend for a title, a simple outcome would be a swap with the Sixers where Washington lands Simmons to replace Beal as a franchise-cornerstone. Washington would then have a player to build around with a few All-Star appearances if that’s what they desired.
If landing Simmons from the Philadelphia 76ers isn’t the desired outcome for the Wizards, perhaps a third-team could send value to the Wizards to help launch a rebuild while Simmons goes to that third-team. Various teams like the Sacramento Kings or Minnesota Timberwolves, as two examples, could send value to the Sixers.
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Overall, the situation with Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards appears to be trending toward a situation where moving on makes sense for not only the player, but for the team, too. It seems as though just simply making the playoffs is an annual struggle and is that the vision the organization wants? It’s difficult to envision that being so.
When evaluating the other names on the Philadelphia 76ers’ short-list of desired targets for Simmons, there are certainly other names to watch, but they are in better situations currently than Beal. James Harden has been linked aggressively as of late but again, he is already on a Brooklyn Nets team stacked with starpower when healthy. Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics have been figuring things out as of late.
Again, the Wizards’ willingness to offer the supermax contract extension or perhaps Beal’s potential desire to turn down such an offer in favor of landing with a contender are key factors in play for the Sixers’ potential pursuit of the All-Star guard. There’s a lot that would need to play out for this to be an imminent possibility, but as the way the season has progressed for all parties involved, this appears to be a logical outcome.
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Again, the James Harden possibility is out there for the Philadelphia 76ers and is clearly a key element to watch. The relationships that Harden holds with key members of the Sixers organization should not be understated. But again, he’d still have to leave a team that has Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to make it happen, and that may be a tough choice to make. Impossible? No. But, still difficult? Yes.
Damian Lillard has long been a sought after target of the Sixers but he continues to remain focused on staying with the Portland Trail Blazers as he approaches eligibility to sign a two-year contract extension worth in excess of $100 million. It’s difficult to leave a situation that continues to pay such a premium and holds him in such a high regard as the clear-cut franchise-cornerstone.
There appears to be a genuine possibility of a landscape where if James Harden decides he wants to stay with the Brooklyn Nets (or sign elsewhere, but not with the Sixers), the Philadelphia 76ers’ focus would need to fully be placed on Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards.
