Brooklyn Nets: Three potential Bradley Beal trades

News circled yesterday that the Brooklyn Nets have internally discussed how to acquire Bradley Beal. Here are three trades that could potentially work out.

On Thursday, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News reported the Brooklyn Nets front office has had internal discussions on how to acquire Bradley Beal.

With his contract originally set to expire in the summer of 2021, Beal inked a 1+1 contract extension last October worth up to $71.8 million. With the second year being a player option worth in excess of $37 million, the former #3 pick can opt-out in 2022 and test free agency then.

Before the extension and with the Wizards facing a rebuilding season due to the injury to John Wall, Beal was one of the hottest names on the market. Effectively, the new contract meant the Wizards were not trading Beal during the 19-20 season.

While originally linked heavily to Denver, the Nets-Beal connection comes as no surprise after Kyrie Irving’s public calls that the current roster was not good enough.

GM Sean Marks has delicately built a cast of role players meant to complement ball-dominant players. For the 2020-21 season (in whatever form it takes), the Nets can project Irving and a healthy Kevin Durant to have usage rates above 25 percent — neither have ever been below that mark.

Beal has not been below that mark since 2015.

While a more stable approach to roster building may be more sound, it is clear that name matters more to Irving and the veteran cohort than fit. Kenny Atkinson’s long term replacement will probably be more of a link to this core.

Who knows? Maybe Beal will agree to come off the bench, the Nets can play their new “Big 3” 36 minutes a game, and exactly two of the three are on the floor at the same time.

News Flash: this won’t happen. The Big 3 will both start and close the game, rendering the remaining two players on the floor to fill the roles Shane Battier, Mike Miller, and Udonis Haslem occupied on the Heatles. Thus, other shoot-first players like Caris LeVert will likely be on their way.

Thus, here are a few potential Beal swaps. Assume these trades are conducted during the 2020 offseason.