The Washington Wizards made a late-season rally to earn a spot in the play-in tournament last season with NBA All-Star talents like Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal leading the charge. Now, Westbrook is long gone and Beal is sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Before Beal underwent season-ending left wrist surgery, the Wizards were unravelling quickly. Washington had began the season with a 10-3 record but has since collapsed to being comfortable below .500 after the NBA trade deadline with a bleak outlook of making much noise.
The Wizards took a chance on Spencer Dinwiddie on a three-year, $55 million contract in the offseason coming off a torn ACL injury that kept him sidelined for all of the 2020-21 season. Washington decided that enough was enough and moved him along with Davis Bertans to the Dallas Mavericks for Kristaps Porzingis.
There is little reason to have confidence that Porzingis is going to be much of a meaningful addition the Wizards given his own injury concerns and failure to develop into being an elite threat. In a loaded Eastern Conference, a Beal-Porzingis duo is not going to be doing much damage.
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At some point, either Beal himself or the Wizards need to decide that things are not working. Paying him a supermax while also paying Porzingis well over $30 million is arguably malpractice. If Beal were to reach the trade market, there would be no shortage of interested suitors.
Let’s take a look at three teams that should be monitoring a potential offseason trade to land Bradley Beal from the Washington Wizards.
