Bradley Beal Being Noncommittal About Signing An Extension To Stay In Washington Is Certainly Interesting
Boston Globe. Getty Images.clears throat, cracks nuckles
Bradley Beal is non-committal about his extension huh? You know the drill!
I think we can all agree that Wall isn't turning down that player option, and neither will Westbrook or Kyrie. You may be interested in UFA Zach LaVine, but why exactly would he choose to leave his current situation with the Bulls? I feel confident we can take him off the board as well. Once you do that, do any of those names do it for you? Nurkic is a solid center, but that's really it.
Which brings us to Bradley Beal. Given how the Wizards started the year and the fact that Beal has proven to be an extremely loyal guy, it's hard to know what he'll want to do this summer. While that quote doesn't guarantee he'll leave, we also can't ignore it. He could have straight up said I love what the team is building right now and I'm staying. Instead, he's positioning himself in a way where he's keeping his options open, as is his right.
"Ultimately, you have to be selfish at some point"
Why do I care about this? Because the entire world knows that Brad Stevens and the Celtics are interested in Bradley Beal. He's the best friend of their franchise player. They've positioned themselves to be a player this summer in the Beal sweepstakes should that opportunity arise. In order for this to work and not be a lateral move, the Celts would need Beal to play his part. He needs to go the James Harden route in a sense that he has to tell the Wizards that he is going to turn down his player option unless he's traded to Boston. The idea there is they have to use their leverage to force WSH to accept a deal that does not include Jaylen Brown. That's HIGHLY unlikely unless Beal forces their hand. If he's "selfish" if you will. That's the only way something like this works/makes sense. If you have to trade Jaylen and are just swapping Beal for a package around Jaylen + whatever else, I'm not sure you're better. The idea is to build that three headed monster, but you can't do that unless Beal makes it clear the Wizards have no choice. Either you accept this deal to trade me, or I'm leaving and you get nothing.
If we're being honest, that goes against absolutely everything we've ever seen or heard from Beal when it comes to where he wants to play. That's why this is all a pipedream in reality. But you can't help but notice the breadcrumbs. It's just something to keep your eyes on as we move forward. Especially as we get closer to the deadline. I'm sure the Wizards are going to want to know by then what Beal's plans are. If he's not going to re-sign, they are in a bit of a pickle.
Look, there is still a ton of basketball to be played. As of today, the Wizards are much better than expected. If they have a great year and show promise in a playoff series, maybe that's enough for Beal to commit. But that's also probably why he wants to wait when talking about this stuff. Why make a declaration now when you don't have to? See how things play out and evaluate your options when that time comes.