The Whiteboard: Who has the best trade package for Bradley Beal?

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With confirmation that Bradley Beal‘s season is, indeed, finished, there’s a bit more freedom to officially lean into the kind of wild trade speculation and fantasizing that many of us have unofficially partaken in over the past few months.

Despite the interruption, this was clearly the best individual season of Beal’s career. He averaged 30.5 points per game, a new career-high by nearly five points. He also set a new personal best for assist and usage percentage, and still managed to post the third-best true shooting percentage of his eight-year career.

Beal hasn’t asked for a trade and signed a two-year extension (with a player option for a third) just last summer. However, he’s expressed frustration with the organization and teammates several times over the past few years. The Wizards were also clearly a tier below competitiveness — FiveThirtyEight gave them just a two percent chance of making the playoffs the day before the season was suspended — and it’s not clear how much the return of John Wall would improve their immediate fortunes.

The Wizards will almost certainly hear offers for Beal during the abbreviated NBA offseason. Even if they don’t intend to trade him, it’s worth at least considering what might be on the table.

Bradley Beal to the Dallas Mavericks

The idea of Beal in Dallas should certainly be appealing to Mavericks’ fans, putting a third star next to the budding young duo of Kristaps Porzingis and Luka Doncic. Beal has blossomed into a primary scorer but his shooting and experience next to John Wall should make him comfortable playing off Doncic as well. In addition, the Mavericks could essentially stagger the two creators so that either Doncic or Beal is on the floor, running the offense, for all 48 minutes.

The issue is that the Mavericks don’t have a ton of appealing pieces for the Wizards. Making the money work would mean sending Tim Hardaway Jr. to Washington (after he picks up his option) and having Dallas shed some expiring contracts. Hardaway Jr. is a useful enough play but not for a rebuilding team like the Wizards and even with just one year left on his deal they probably couldn’t get a ton of value trying to flip him again.

The Mavericks owe their 2021 and 2023 first-round picks to the Knicks from the Porzingis deal and so 2025 is the earliest first-rounder they could send to Washington. Unless the Wizards had another deal in place for Hardaway Jr. or Dallas was able to find another first-round pick somewhere else this one is probably a non-starter.

Bradley Beal to the Miami Heat

The Heat roster is loaded with depth and potential but it still seems like their competitiveness is held together more by these advantageous redundancies than elite skill or production in any one area. They have shooters and creators but Beal would be an enormous upgrade, with the kind of star power to hopefully lift Miami into the top tier in the East.

Like the Mavericks, the Heat already owe first-round draft picks — 2021 to Atlanta, 2023 to Oklahoma City — and won’t be able to tack on anything meaningful in that department. However, they have more intriguing young talent than Dallas does to make up for any failings in draft capital. It would still be pennies (or maybe a couple of dimes and a nickel?) on the dollar for Beal, but something like Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn would at least give Washington something to think about, especially if it’s clear that Beal isn’t happy and the Wizards’ leverage starts to erode.

Bradley Beal to the Denver Nuggets

This is a scenario I haven’t heard mentioned anywhere else but, again, it’s a fun fantasy. Jamal Murray is still grappling with his potential and for as much ground as the Nuggets have covered on the road to contention it still feels like they could use a high-end upgrade somewhere. Beal’s combination of shooting and playmaking would be splendid working around the hub of Nikola Jokic and there’s a path here where the Nuggets could keep Murray as well.

Gary Harris had a terrible year (following one that was merely disappointing) but he still has defensive potential, he’s two years younger than Beal and he’s shot 39 percent or better on 3-pointers in two separate seasons. His contract would work as the centerpiece of trade with the Nuggets creating some additional space by shedding Mason Plumlee and bringing back Paul Millsap at a lower salary. The Nuggets don’t have a ton of appealing draft capital to send Washington, but they could add Michael Porter Jr. to Harris.

Porter Jr. missed all of his rookie season recovering from a back injury and played just 670 minutes this year, trying to find space in the Nuggets’ crowded wing rotation. However, he was nothing short of spectacular, posting 19.2 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocks per 36 minutes, shooting 42.2 percent on 3-pointers, and making over 40 percent on both pull-up and catch-and-shoot attempts. The Wizards might prefer picks in a Beal trade but, at this point, Porter Jr. probably has at least as much star potential as anyone in this relatively disappointing draft class.

Bradley Beal to the Philadelphia 76ers

A deal with the 76ers is one of the few hypothetical scenarios where the Wizards return a player who is actually on Beal’s level right now. This obviously only happens if the 76ers explode in the playoffs and it’s clear that the Ben Simmons – Joel Embiid pairing is no longer viable. Either of those players would be a fairish offer in a straight-up swap and Beal could work well with whichever player the 76ers decide to hang onto. The idea is probably a bit disconcerting to both sides — either Simmons or Embiid would bring huge questions to Washington and this scenario would mean trouble is brewing for Philadelphia — but it seems plausible if things break the right way.

Bradley Beal to the Golden State Warriors

The Warriors have plenty of time to plot the details on this and it seems like the most plausibly workable deal, even if it’s not necessarily the most appealing for either side.

The Warriors would like to pivot back towards championship contention and their first-round pick this year (14 percent chance of being No. 1, 52 percent chance of being top 4) has much more value as a short-term lever for adding another star than it does as a building block for the future. However, they’d much rather be building this package around Giannis Antetokounmpo and a pivot to Beal probably means that the Bucks are intact as an Eastern Conference rival. The Warriors have had no problem in the past stacking redundant talents but fashioning an offensive power-sharing system out of Stephen Curry, Bradley Beal and Klay Thompson is not without its challenges.

For Washington, they’d likely be getting something like Andrew Wiggins, the Warriors first-round pick this year and an additional first-round pick. I’m of the mind that Wiggins is not any more valuable than Hardaway Jr. at this point and because of the issue with this draft class, even the No. 1 pick this year might be equal in value to a mid-lottery pick in a normal year. As far as an additional pick, the Warriors could offer their 2022 pick or Minnesota’s 2021 first-round pick (top-three protected) which they hold the rights too. Obviously, the Minnesota pick is much more appealing but the Warriors might not be willing to put that on the table for their offseason Plan B.

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