Bradley Beal hasn’t been on a team that has had championship aspirations for the entirety of his career. That might be changing for next season and beyond.
After back-to-back 35-47 seasons under head coach Wes Unseld Jr., the Washington Wizards could be on the verge of moving him elsewhere.
Bill Simmons of The Ringer said on 97.1 The Ticket the Philadelphia 76ers should be considered the favorites to land Beal this summer.
“My guess, my bet, the odds on favorite—I would put them -200 would be Philadelphia,” Simmons said on the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast. “My odds on favorite is Philadelphia and I don’t even think it’s close. Beal and [Joel] Embiid, they’re friends. Embiid was trying to get him two years ago, which I kept telling people on this podcast. They ended up going with [James] Harden instead, Embiid was pushing hard for Beal. Harden is going to leave.
“If you’re Philly and you are going to lose Harden and now I have this shooter, that’s probably a better fit with Embiid anyway. And I have Tobias Harris on an expiring contract, couple future draft picks I could probably throw that I could probably find in my pocket somewhere. And, if you’re Washington it’s like, you know what we got out of the Beal contract. We have Harris as an expiring and we’re re-booting everything.”
With Michael Winger being named the new president of Monumental Basketball and Will Dawkins being named the general manager of the team, the Wizards are preparing for change that may lead to a full rebuild. The team is going nowhere and fast.
Their only hope may be to rebuild through the NBA draft. If you’re going to be bad, then you may as well lose as many games as possible in hopes of getting a high draft pick.
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The Wizards have missed the playoffs in four of the last five seasons.
Should he request a trade this offseason, plenty of teams will be looking to pursue the three-time All-Star as Beal is still only 29-years-old.
Sixers MVP Joel Embiid has his team in a position to contend for a championship in the Eastern Conference and having James Harden as his other star does not seem to be enough to get over the hump.
The former MVP could very well come back to Philly, but there have been talks of him returning to Houston. Harden may be trying to cash out for the final time in his career.
If that happens, expect Daryl Morey to make a signature move to help the 76ers and they may include Beal.
