4 Questions facing the Washington Wizards after the trade deadline

3. What’s the plan with Bradley Beal?

Over the summer, as expected, Bradley Beal was the biggest trade subject in the NBA. With a multi-time All-star entering his prime and playing for a bad team, the trade inquiries will always pile up. Instead, though, Tommy Sheppard did a nice job of convincing Brad to stay and he signed a two-year extension.

A quality vision was put into place by Sheppard. They brought back their star in Beal, and now they are slowly trying to build a young core that will eventually turn into a contender. The problem with visions like this is that on paper they sound great. However, the constant losing is not always something that is easy to stomach. Which is exactly what has happened with Bradley Beal.

With John Wall out for the season, this year was looked at by most as a development type of season in Washington. It has led to a lot of losing and it has made Brad unhappy, which is understandable. Young guys come in, make mistakes, try to learn from them, and make the strides they need to make year by year. But just knowing that it’s going to be a tough season doesn’t necessarily make it easier. Beal continues to see double and triple teams and he’s getting sick and tired of it.

Brad wants to win, and he wants to win badly. Anybody can respect that. After many thought that Brad would be in on this “rebuild on the fly idea,” he has grown impatient.

This brings up a couple of different questions in regards to Mr. Beal. Do they trade him this summer? Do they give in to his demands and make short-term fixes? Does John Wall’s return do enough to keep him happy?

After being interviewed by Stephen A. Smith on ESPN recently, Beal doubled down both on the ideas that he wants to win right now and that John Wall is an integral part of the Wizards’ success moving forward.

Trade scenarios will continue to swirl and will obviously be a hot topic this summer once Brad is eligible to be traded again. A lot of interesting packages will be out there so if the Wizards decide to start over and move Brad, they will get a good haul.

On the other side, Wall will still be a good player and facilitator alongside Beal as they try to climb back into the playoff picture. Brad will get the chance to be the top guy and they will still have a formidable duo that will be able to win games in the East.

Things have the potential to swing either way.

I think in a perfect world, John comes back, the Wizards jump back into the playoff race, the young guys develop a little more, and Brad stays happy.

However, if anything changes, this situation could become a little murkier. It seems that Brad enjoys D.C. and the Wizards obviously love Brad. But sometimes situations change and the Wizards have to be smart.

The NBA is a business after all.