Philadelphia 76ers: Bradley Beal’s non-extension is fool’s gold
Bradley Beal is the exact kind of player the Philadelphia 76ers would like to trade for.
He’s a legit star, a scorer who can get buckets in a variety of different ways, and at 28-years-old, is in the exact same spot in his prime as Joel Embiid.
Sure, at 6-foot-3, Beal is a tad undersized for a two guard and would form a weird backcourt alongside either Tyrese Maxey or Seth Curry, but when you have that level of top-end talent, with multiple players with 50 pieces on their resume, any coach would happily attempt to figure that situation out. Why? Because even in the modern day NBA, where the number of dominant big men can be counted on one hand, pairing an elite perimeter scorer with a dominant post presence is one of the best ways to consistently put points on the board.
Stagger the minutes of Embiid and Beal and a coach could theoretically have an MVP-caliber player on the court at all times, with more than a few secondary scorers capable of complementing either option. Play them together, at the beginning and end of quarters, and the Sixers’ offensive identity would be one of the best in the NBA today, or ever for that matter.
Unfortunately, such a pairing might have to be relegated to 2K, “What Ifs,” and the dreams of NBA fans the world over, as even if Bradley Beal opts against signing a midseason extension with the Washington Wizards right now, it’s almost impossible to imagine him ending up in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform in 2022.
The Philadelphia 76ers shouldn’t hold their breath for Bradley Beal.
Bradley Beal is a good player.
He’s a top-25 player any day of the week, an all-effort guy, and the sort of player who can pretty much will his squad into the playoffs based on talent alone in a 20 team format, especially in the Eastern Conference where half of the teams don’t have a legitimate star player.
Therein lies the problem for Beal straight up asking for his way out of Washington; he’s just too good.
Call him the Damian Lillard of the beltway, albeit with a rotating supporting cast instead of a long-term 1b like CJ McCollum, but Beal will remain the face of the Wizards for as long as he wants to be and get paid like one of the NBA’s premier players as a result.
Could Beal eventually ask for his way out of Washington? Yes. Could that happen this calendar year? Yes, it’s entirely possible, but do you want to know what is even more likely? That Beal will simply sign whatever max contract he is eligible for this offseason and continue on with the will-they, won’t-they dance he’s been putting DC fans through for years.
And why not, right? I mean Ben Simmons signed a four-year max contract that actually increased in value thanks to landing on the NBA’s first team All-Defense, and he’s sitting out the season because he doesn’t like playing alongside one of the Top-3 players in the NBA today.
If Simmons can pull that on a team with legitimate championship aspirations, why wouldn’t Beal take the money, the endorsements, and know that if he ultimately wants out, he can work his way out? I mean, if it works for BS why not Beal, who is a much better player and could generate the sort of roster-resetting asset return that could relaunch a team, especially in the Eastern Conference?
Unless the Wizards really like Simmons, I’m talking more than Philly fans did in Years 1-3 of his NBA career, they have little reason to ship Beal to the Sixers, even if they have one of the better offers presently on the table for his services if they wanted to make a move.
Why? Because the Wizards are good, good enough to make the playoffs anyway.
dark. Next. Joel Embiid changes the math for the Philadelphia 76ers
Theoretically, every NBA team should want to enter every NBA season with one goal in mind: A championship. In practice? Not so much. For some teams, a championship is very much the goal, whereas others want to accrue assets for their rebuild, and others still are just happy to make the playoffs and earn a few extra home games at inflated ticket prices. Even if the Washington Wizards say they are in the first camp, realistically, they are in the third, and trading Bradley Beal, unless he absolutely demands his way out, ruins that equation. Unfortunately, with an extension hanging just over the horizon, I sort of doubt that scenario will happen anytime soon, especially if his past comments on the subject are of any indication.