The Washington Wizards trade Bradley Beal to Miami
Washington Wizards Receive: Tyler Herro, Kelly Olynyk, Andre Igoudala, Precious Achiuwa, 2022 First-round Pick, 2024 First-round Pick, 2025 First-round Swap, 2026 First-round Pick
Miami Heat Receive: Bradley Beal, Troy Brown Jr
How it helps the Washington Wizards:
After seeing what the Houston Rockets were able to get in the James Harden deal with almost no leverage, my ideal price on Bradley Beal went up. But when you’re dealing with Pat Riley, you have to be a bit cautious. It was reported that Riley was hesitant to put Duncan Robinson in a deal for James Harden, so I left him out of this one. Besides, he’d be super redundant next to Davis Bertans, even though I think you might as well get what you can for the Laser if you’re trading Beal. But I digress.
Anyways, the Rockets got THREE firsts (2022,2024,2026) and FOUR first-round swaps from Brooklyn (2021,2023,2025,2027), plus a first from Milwaukee (2022) in the James Harden trade. I really don’t think three firsts and one swap is a lot to ask for the NBA’S LEADING SCORER.
That would give the Wizards eight first-round picks between 2021 and 2026.
In this deal, the Wizards get to add a ton a draft capital which they can either use in future trades or use to build around their new core of Tyler Herro, Deni Avdija, Rui Hachimura, Precious Achiuwa, and Thomas Bryant.
That’s a pretty great core of players all under 25 years old — two of which were on last year’s All-Rookie teams –, all with complimentary skill sets. Olynyk and Igoudala I could honestly care less about. Thanks for making the numbers work? But ultimately, this gives the Wizards a strong, talented foundation with enough picks to help build something special around it.
How it helps the Miami Heat:
For one, all the photoshops of Beal in a Heat jersey will not have been created in vain. No other fanbase has been as impressively annoying in their thirst for Beal as the Miami Heat fanbase. And now they get their guy.
Miami already has a great team. Hell, they went to the NBA Finals last season. But if they’re missing anything, it’s a bucket-getter; somebody who can score anytime, anyplace, vs anybody. That’s exactly what they’re getting in Bradley Beal. By acquiring Beal, the Heat would be filling one of their few holes with one of the best in the business. Tyler Herro stepped up admirably many times in the playoffs, but Beal is leaps and bounds ahead of Herro right now. The Nets may have just established their own big three of Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Kevin Durant, but Beal, Jimmy Butler, and BamAdebayo could go toe to toe in a seven-game series with anybody.
And I feel like Troy Brown would finally be able to put it all together in Miami. All the flashes that we’ve seen in D.C., they’d figure out how to use it down in Miami. Go be free, Troy! — Ethan Smith