https://okcthunderwire.usatoday.com/2021/06/05/bleacher-report-proposes-bradley-beal-thunder-trade/
Bleacher Report proposes win-now Bradley Beal trade for Thunder
Logan Newman
June 5, 2021 1:53 pm CT
Bleacher Report thinks the Oklahoma City Thunder could fast-forward their rebuild with a trade for a star player nearing the end of his contract.
Writer Greg Swartz proposed a trade idea for every non-playoff team. In the article, he wrote the Thunder could trade for Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal.
His idea:
Thunder receive: Bradley Beal
Wizards receive: Forward Aleksej Pokusevski, guard Theo Maledon, 2021 first-round pick (top-3 protected), 2022 first-round pick (via Phoenix Suns, top-12 protected)
As much as the Thunder organization has preached patience and an unwillingness to take shortcuts for the rebuild, it's hard to imagine Oklahoma City says no to this trade.
Pairing Beal with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would create one of the best backcourts in the league. It would be 50 points nightly from the pair, and Beal would take offensive pressure off Gilgeous-Alexander, which would allow the young guard to exert more energy on defense, too.
Swartz wrote:
The Thunder have perhaps the brightest future of any franchise, given the amount of young talent on the roster and the incredible collection of draft picks owed to them.
If Beal finally asks out of Washington, why shouldn't the Thunder go for him?
It's much more likely the Wizards hang up the phone.
Maledon is a nice young guard, but there's minimal excitement about him outside Oklahoma City. He was a starter for OKC, but would likely have been a No. 2 or No. 3 point guard for a decent-to-good team. His potential is unclear.
Pokusevski has a sky-high upside, but the Wizards would have to be certain he's a star in the making to make him the centerpiece of a trade.
And he would be the centerpiece. The Thunder's pick has a 34% of landing in the top three (which would allow OKC to keep it). There's a 47.5% chance it ends up as No. 6 or 7, the point in the draft at which there appears to be a steep drop-off of talent from the top five prospects. That would give Washington less than a 20% chance of ending up with pick 4 or 5.
The Suns' 2022 first-round pick, meanwhile, will likely be in the mid- to late-20s.
The reason this price isn't as high as it should be for a player of Beal's stature is he has only two years left on his contract and one of them is a player option.
Washington must decide whether the team is going to run it back with Beal (and Russell Westbrook) or maximize the return on the two with Beal's contract nearing its end and Westbrook posting a phenomenal end to the 2020-21 season.
On the flip side, Oklahoma City would need to evaluate if it's worth the risk of losing him after one season. In the last four years, Washington has missed the playoffs twice and not gotten out of the first round the other two times. Beal might prefer to go to a contender than run it back with the Thunder if he were to come to OKC.
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