As the NBA trade deadline approaches, many teams will be looking to make championship caliber moves. One of the biggest names that has been discussed for years now, Bradley Beal, is apparently off the table. The Athletic’s Fred Katz and David Aldridge reported that the Washington Wizards would not be fielding any trade calls for the league’s leading scorer.
On top of that, Beal himself has not submitted a trade request. While this might seem regular in the 80’s, we now live in a world where a player wants to leave the first time their franchise doesn’t make the playoffs. In some instances, such as Russell Wilson, making the playoffs isn’t even enough.
Beal can opt out of his current 2 year, 72 million dollar contract this offseason and sign an insane $266 million dollar, five year deal exclusively with the Wizards or grab a 5 year, $198 million contract with another team. Bradley Beal seems content sticking to the plan in Washington and wants to cement his legacy with the team.
The long-term outlook for the Wizards isn’t awful by any stretch of the imagination. With core pieces such as Troy Brown, Deni Avdija, Rui Hachimura, and Thomas Bryant, there is hope down the line. The only glaring issue for the team is Russell Westbrook. Fortunately, his contract runs out in two years where they can let him walk in free agency. On top of that, they likely won’t be signing any of the aforementioned names to big contracts giving them the flexibility to sign a real star player opposite of Beal in the future.
You have to give a lot of credit for a star player not abandoning the team that drafted him and looking down the road while working hard each night in and out.
