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.

2020-2021 SALARY CAP UPDATE

The NBA informed teams in January that the 2020-21 projected salary cap would be $115 million with a luxury tax line of $139.

The Athletic’s John Hollinger reported that based on several internal sources, he believes those two figures to be around $109 million and $132 million, respectively.

For a rebuilding team, these shifts may prove to be insignificant. For a Brooklyn team already paying their two best players close to 70 percent of the new cap, this shift will likely further burn a hole in new owner Joe Tsai’s pocket.

The combination of Irving, Durant, and Beal would cost the Nets over $102 million dollars for the 2020-21 season. When Beal’s extension kicks in for the following year, that number will grow to an astonishing $111 million.

New majority owner Tsai is worth an estimated $11.4 billion USD and he previously stated that he will spend pretty much anything to win. However, the impending luxury tax the Nets would be sailing too would surely smash the record. Oklahoma City paid over $61 million dollars during the 2018-19 season just to lose in the first round.

Considering Irving and Durant’s affinity to DeAndre Jordan, his $10 million will also likely be around. A Beal trade would pretty much rule a return of Joe Harris moot and force Brooklyn to fill out their roster with bargain-bin players.

Hopefully, David Nwaba is included in this mix.

The Best-Case

2020-21 Cap Numbers Are In Millions in Parenthesis (Courtesy of Spotrac)

BROOKLYN RECEIVES: Bradley Beal (28.7), Jerome Robinson (3.7), Isaac Bonga (1.6)

WASHINGTON RECEIVES: Caris LeVert (16.2), Jarrett Allen (3.9), Taurean Prince (13.9), 2021 and 2023 Unprotected First Round Picks

This is a best-case trade for an NBA superstar post-Paul George to the Clippers trade. In that swap, the Thunder were able to net an astounding FIVE firsts on top of two further pick swaps. Consider those 2021 and 2023 firsts gone, fully unprotected (the Stepien Rule dictates teams cannot trade firsts in back to back years).

So too are Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen.

Perhaps Irving’s late-season absence was a blessing in disguise for the Nets, as it showcased LeVert’s ability to operate as a lead scorer without two shoot-first guards by his side (those Irving-Dinwiddie-LeVert sets did not quite fit).

Highlighted by a splendid 51-point outing in Boston, the Wizards will likely consider the former Michigan Wolverine as a like-for-like replacement.

Allen, meanwhile, is an analytics darling. His 7.1 win shares rank 16th in the entire NBA (not a typo). The Wizards can surely drool over a future three-man frontcourt rotation of Allen, Rui Hachimura, and Thomas Bryant, especially if they can lockup Allen to an extension this offseason.

So why is this trade the best-case? The Nets would be in dreamland if they found another team to take a bite on Taurean Prince’s 3-and-D potential. His 2019-20 three-point field goal percentage (33.9 percent) or Defensive Box P/M (-0.1) indicate that perhaps he may not be living up to his billing.

The Prince extension is Marks’s primary black-mark over his tenure as GM, one he would surely take back if he could. FanSided’s own Collin Loring noted just how poor Prince has been this season.

"“And he’s posting an offensive rating of 95 points per 100 possessions, which is, low to say the least. Per Basketball-Reference, Prince is one of just two players averaging 12 or more points to post a 95 or lower offensive rating. The other? Rookie guard RJ Barrett.”"

If the Wizards think Prince is capable of producing better, they may be willing to take him as a price to receive the rest of Brooklyn’s bounty. Hence why the Nets need to sweeten the pot with two unprotected picks.

This trade is also vested on the premise the Nets 2020 First Rounder does not fall between 1-14, in which case their 2021 pick would likely go to Minnesota (via Atlanta, thanks to Allen Crabbe).

The Most-Likely Scenario

BROOKLYN RECEIVES: Bradley Beal (28.7), Isaac Bonga (1.6)

WASHINGTON RECEIVES: Caris LeVert (16.2), Jarrett Allen (3.9), Spencer Dinwiddie (11.5), 2021 Unprotected First Round Pick (from BKN), 2023 Right to Swap First Round Picks

Take a deep breath, Nets fans.

Assuming the Wizards process that Prince is a sunk cost, they will likely want the only non-DeAndre Jordan asset under contract for the Nets for 2020-21: Spencer Dinwiddie. Why perform extra cap gymnastics and give up a player who they only recently acquired (former Clipper lottery pick Jerome Robinson) just to take on Prince?

If Washington could find a way to bring back pending free agent Davis Bertans with some bird-rights cap tight roping, they can pitch fans that a core of a healthy Wall, LeVert, Bertans, Hachimura, and Allen with Dinwiddie, Troy Brown, Mo Wagner, and Bryant can certainly make the playoffs.

Washington has successfully mined rotation-level NBA talent over their last few rebuilding seasons. Factor in the extra first-round picks, and the Wizards could expect to be fringe playoff contenders for years to come.

Perhaps this is the only way to navigate the truly terrible John Wall contact (4 years, $171 million).

If not, they can flip Dinwiddie and Wall (unlikely) for more assets and continue their rebuild. Poor Spencer may really get caught up in the crosshairs on this one.

The Nets will presumably seek the 3-and-D help they were supposed to get from Prince elsewhere. Free-agent forwards like Jeff Green, Marvin Williams, or Thabo Sefolosha would all make sense at veteran minimums.

Maybe Reggie Jackson can be signed to backup Irving? Perhaps Nic Claxton can fill in backup center minutes to Jordan in a Kevin Looney-like screener/defense role. Either way, the Nets rotation will be perilously top-heavy next season.

THREE TEAM BONANZA

BROOKLYN RECEIVES: Bradley Beal (28.7), Isaac Bonga (1.6)

WASHINGTON RECEIVES: Caris LeVert (16.2), Jarrett Allen (3.9), Kyle Kuzma (3.5), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (8.5 team-option — assuming he opts in), 2021 Unprotected First Round Pick (from BKN), 2023 Right to Swap First Round Picks

LOS ANGELES RECEIVES: Spencer Dinwiddie (11.5)

More players may need to be added to this deal to make roster-spots fit. But holy toledo, Dinwiddie to the Lakers? Wasn’t he just doing this to them?

All anyone heard about Los Angeles this season was the lack of shot creation on the perimeter and how the team sunk offensively when LeBron James sat. Derrick Rose rumors circled to all corners of the NBA universe at the trade deadline.

Enter Dinwiddie, isolation scoring expert and a Los Angeles native.

For the Nets, this trade is identical to the most likely outcome, bar for a re-routing of Dinwiddie that may more suit the Wizards preference.

If Washington knows they may be priced out of Bertans, perhaps they’ll settle for point-forward Kuzma instead (and KCP to help salary’s fit).

Perhaps Dinwiddie’s recent crowdfunding efforts will see him land in Los Angeles.