Could Beal be the Warriors’ missing piece?
Bradley Beal seemingly can’t escape the speculation about whom the Warriors could add to maximize the primes of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.
A package of James Wiseman, the Nos. 7 and 14 picks, and Andrew Wiggins’ contract could be part of a deal to land an immediate impact player such as Beal, who is currently in Las Vegas training with Team USA alongside Green and assistant coach Steve Kerr.
How much recruiting actually will happen during that twoweek camp before leaving for Tokyo?
“Probably a lot. I don’t know,” Beal said Wednesday after a second day of workouts. “It depends on who is a free agent or not, but we can’t mix that in right now. We’re focused on one goal at hand, and that’s bringing back the gold medal.
“We all have our respective individual goals and talents, and once this is done, we can adjust those issues then.”
Beal is not a free agent, but he likely will become one soon. Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade — none of them free agents at the time — famously joined forces in the NBA after strengthening their relationships with Team USA.
Due to make $34.5 million in 202122, Beal is expected to opt out of $37.3 million for 202223 with the Washington Wizards, who have not been to the conference finals since 1979 and again are searching for a head coach on a consistently middling franchise.
Beal is eligible for a fouryear extension that could start in the $40.5 million range with Washington, or he could become an unrestricted free agent in 2022. Even quicker, he could choose his own destination: playing with the Warriors’ mainstays, his childhood friend Jayson Tatum in Boston or other scenarios.
Having just turned the NBA prime, 28 years old, last month, Beal was second to Curry in scoring — missing his first title by 0.68 of a point per game. The 6foot3, 207pounder has proven equally effective playing alongside balldominant John Wall and Russell Westbrook, so there seemingly would be enough shots to go around for Curry and Thompson, and Green loves sharing.
“He is hard to keep up with, whether he’s coming off backpicks or running a pickandroll. His balance and movement both are very impressive. He stops on a dime, can pull up and shoot the shot, he shoots the 3, and he can back cut and leave you in the dust,” Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich said of Beal. “His movement really informs his shooting, if you think about the space that he creates because of his stopstart, stopstart and ability to catch, go up and knock down the shot.”
Even with Thompson expected to return from an Achilles injury, the Warriors are lacking players who can create their own shot — or even, make an open shot. They spent all of 202021 trying to find a pressure valve for Curry.
Instead, opponents regularly double and tripleteamed him while the Warriors’ sidekicks clanked shots.
Beal could be a natural solution to that problem. One of the more logical proposals bandied about during last month’s scouting combine netted the Warriors Beal and Avery Bradley in a threeteam deal that sends Wiseman and the Nos. 7 and 14 picks to Houston, while Washington gets the No. 2 choice and Wiggins.
Three weeks into his coaching search, which reportedly has been whittled to Darvin Ham, Charles Lee, Jamahl Mosley and Wes Unseld Jr., Washington general manager Tommy Sheppard publicly has eschewed any trade suggestions for Beal.
But, it’s Beal’s decision, ultimately.
He hasn’t reupped his contract with Washington and sold his 12,000squarefoot mansion in Virginia in August. Plus, it sounds as if he’s having a lot of fun playing with Kevin Durant, Green, Damian Lillard and Tatum.
“We kind of just freeflow,” Beal said. “Everyone is interchangeable, and everyone has free rein to be aggressive. We obviously have to understand that there’s only one basketball, but at the same time, everyone is unselfish. Sometimes we’re too unselfish. We understand who is on the floor with us, so we don’t have to work hard to get a shot off or do everything on our own. …
“I want to defend. I want to be one of the best defenders on the team. Everybody can score. Everybody can give us 30 or 40. I want to be the guy who goes out and guards and gets after it.”