Within his preview of the Wizards‘ offseason, Fred Katz of The Athletic writes that there’s “no way” the team will trade Bradley Beal this fall. General manager Tommy Sheppard reiterated that point today, telling reporters on a conference call that Beal “isn’t going anywhere,” as Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets.
While the Wizards have conveyed that sentiment for a long time, both privately and publicly, rival teams have still been keeping an eye on the situation, hoping things in D.C. may change. But with Beal not expressing to the team that he wants out, and the Wizards showing zero interest in moving him, it appears potential suitors will have to wait until at least the trade deadline – if not the 2021 offseason – to take a shot at Beal.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- Sheppard told reporters today that the Wizards are “certainly looking to move up” in the draft, but added that they could also theoretically move back and end up with the same player they want at No. 9, tweets Katz. Sheppard also said Washington would like to acquire another second-round pick in addition to No. 37 (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington).
- The Wizards plan to restrict John Wall‘s workload upon his return from an Achilles tear this season, Sheppard confirmed today. As Hughes writes for NBC Sports Washington, the plan is for Wall to sit one half of the team’s back-to-back to start the season — he’s also extremely unlikely to match his career average of 35.9 minutes per game in 2020/21. “Four games in five nights, a compressed season, all those things; we’re gonna save John from himself,” Sheppard told Katz. “He’s not gonna play 40 minutes a night, and we’ve gotta manage his schedule, certainly. But from where he is at a talent level, I think John’s gonna be able to make a big impact on our team. I think he’s gonna take a lot of pressure off everybody.”
- The Wizards are still the favorites to re-sign Davis Bertans, according to Katz, who says most people around the league think the sharpshooter will end up with a three- or four-year deal in the range of $12-15MM per year.
- Outside of re-signing Bertans, Washington’s top priority this offseason will be adding a rim-protecting big man, writes Katz. The Wizards would also like to bring in someone who can guard bigger wings.
It really does make no sense to trade Beal now that Wall is coming back from injury. It would have made sense to trade him last offseason since Wall was going to miss the year, but since Wall is coming back you might as well see what you can do before possibly breaking things up. Barring injury, Beal will probably have the same value next year as he does this year.
Would Washington take the package Brooklyn is offering for Harden for Beal? I think Beal is a better fit in Brooklyn instead of Harden
He would be the most attractive deadline target. Probably see all these assets moving and will wait to get everyone’s best offer at the deadline.
If Beal is not available, then I don’t expect Harden-to-Nets deal get done next two months.
Celtics should try
Brown, Hayward, 3 picks for Harden and Eric Gordon
Add future unprotected picks if needed.
Warriors went strong after Beal with a offer of draft picks including their #2 and their rookie Pascal included in the package. Wizards said NO.
I don’t see Boston making any major trade. Ainge has been way overprotective. He probably could of had AD if he was willing to move some picks
He was never gonna get AD. That’s silly
@arc89… that seems a very weak offer to me, right?