Golden State Warriors are the biggest threat to poach Bradley Beal

The Golden State Warriors are a real threat to trade for Bradley Beal

With this presumably shortened NBA offseason being in full swing and the draft being just over two weeks away, rumor talk of teams wheeling and dealing players and draft picks from one team to another is really beginning to pick up around the league.

One name that could play a major part in a big deal potentially is Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal.

Beal is coming off a 2019-20 campaign in which he averaged 30.5 points on 51.5 percent shooting from the field and he even splashed in three 3-point buckets a game while doing so. By far a career year for the two-time all-star. But to say most NBA teams would give up the farm to bring in Beal would be the understatement of the year.

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For these reasons, Beal’s name has been at the center of potential trade talks since the season came to an end (finally) a little over three weeks ago. Beal holds a cap number of $28.8 million for the 2020-21 season then has an extension set to kick in for 2021-22 of $34.5 million, with a player option of $37.3 million for the 2022-23 season.

Whatever organization is willing to trade for the 27-year-old St. Louis native will likely be a team that feels they already have the other pieces in place to truly compete for an NBA championship. Beal is seen around the league as a player that could be the cherry on top piece for a championship team.

Two teams that seem to keep resurfacing regarding possible trade scenarios involving Beal are the current NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers and the team that dominated the back half of the 2010s, the Golden State Warriors.

For the Lakers to pull off a deal such as this would mean 1. Not re-signing Rajon Rondo this offseason and 2. Packaging players like Kyle Kuzma, Danny Green, and possibly Kentavious Caldwell-Pope along with draft picks down the line.

If the Lakers are planning to make a run at Beal they would undoubtedly be forced into sending some of the bench depth that proved to be so important during their NBA Finals run in the bubble over to Washington in return for Beal, due to his high salary cap number.

After trading for Anthony Davis last offseason, the Lakers honestly just lack the number of assets needed to acquire a talent like Beal via trade. He’d be a great addition to the Lakers but at this time, the Lakers would likely have to give up far too much to get him to LA.

The Warriors, on the other hand, have options and a lot of the buzz of the offseason has been around what they will do with the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson will be back and healthy for the first time in a long time, they added Andrew Wiggins who they feel can contribute to them making another run at a title and they still have Draymond Green as well. This team really feels like a throwback to the 2014-15 team that won 67 regular-season games, then went on to beat LeBron’s Cavs in the Finals.

Of course, this was before they became a super team in 2016 by adding a second MVP player to the group, in Kevin Durant.

If GSW really wants to make a run at Beal, they have the assets to do so. First, the second overall pick this year, then a top 3 protected pick from Minnesota in next year’s draft, plus a $17 million trade exception received from last year’s Andre Iguodala trade. And let us not forget that Wiggins could also be packaged in any potential deal the Warriors may flirt with this offseason and would almost be guaranteed to be apart of a deal bringing Beal to the Bay Area.

Personnel wise, Beal to the Warriors might be a stretch as bringing him would make the Warriors even smaller in the backcourt if they could not find a way to keep Wiggins.

None of this is for sure, but sometimes rumors can come to fruition and become reality. So, these next couple of weeks leading up to the draft should be quite interesting and who knows what type of deals we could see, even on draft day.