Will Bradley Beal Be An LA Clipper?

Will Bradley Beal Be An LA Clipper?

On today’s show, could the LA Clippers end up with Bradley Beal? Going to be talking about that on today’s Locked On Clippers. [Music] You are Locked on Clippers, your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Yes, sir. sure you were locking in with the Clips. Thank you for making Locked On Clippers the first listen of your day, your team every day. I’m your host, Darian Vizeri, born and raised in LA. Been a Clipper fan for 20 years. Been covering the team for 5 years on my own YouTube channel, Dimeropper, and three years right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube and hit the notification bell so you know every single time we post a video. We are on the road to 8,000 subscribers. And of course, you can listen wherever you get your podcast. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. Take the guess work out of buying concert and show tickets with Game Time. Just download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Clipper Nation, happy 4th of July. If you want to wear something Clippers, it goes right with America’s colors, red, white, and blue. You already know. Go Clips. Perfect excuse to wear Clipper gear in my opinion. In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about the possibility of Bradley Beal getting bought out because it’s been very it’s been discussed and our name has been linked to him uh by some journalists and then what he can bring to the table. We’re analyzing his potential fit with the Clippers, who would be going out in in a in a situation like that and the actual possibility of it happening. So, let’s begin with how could this even happen. So, the Phoenix Suns last season were trying to trade Bradley Beal because everybody knows the Washington Wizards gave him one of the worst contracts I’ve ever seen in my life before the 2022 23 season. Even though that 2022 season wasn’t great from Beal, he had a steep decline in scoring. And they paid him a $50 million a year contract, over $200 million contract, $251 million for five years, which I just couldn’t believe they paid him at the time. And then Phoenix traded for that contract. And obviously, they haven’t gotten the production that they’ve wanted based on that price tag in these two years. He was injured a lot the first season. His production was still really solid, but the thing about the Suns was they literally had guys that could do what Beal does better than Beal and Kevin Durant and Deon Booker. So, it just felt like a redundant move from the start for me. But Bradley Beal is still a good player. He’s just not an all-star caliber player anymore. He’s a like a very good role player. I would say probably best equipped to be a third option on a team that fits him a little bit better. I still think the third option on a very good team is not out of the question for Beiel, but a team that had exactly what he does doesn’t really quite make much sense. Now, the the Suns tried to trade him because obviously their season was not going as planned and they couldn’t because nobody wants to take on Bradley Beiel’s contract in which he still has two years left of and there’s absolutely no way the Clippers can take on that contract. So, if you think I would never take on Bradley Beiel’s contract, it’s not about that. There are rumors now uh from I I’m reading right now Yahoo Sports saying that the Suns and Beal may soon be parting ways. A possible buyout from the remaining two years and $110 million is currently being discussed. The Arizona Republic’s Dwayne Rankin reports. So if the Suns do buy him out, then what they’re going to do is they’re going to use this stretch provision like the uh Bucks did. And cuz Beal has a no trade clause, too. He has to wave it. But I don’t think any team wants to even trade for Beal and he’s going to have to agree to that. So a buyout would work similarly apparently to what the Bucks did with the stretch provision. So with Damen Lillard, the Bucks waved him and they spread the remaining two years over five years. So they’re going to be the Bucks be paying Damen Lillard for five years. And with so with Beal, the Suns would have to negotiate a buyout with him and that $90 million would be stretched out over five years. The thing about it is Bradley Beal would have to give back at least $13.8 million to allow Phoenix to stretch his contract. So apparently whatever team he signs with, he wants to, you know, get that remaining $20 million. So I don’t know exactly how that works, but I will tell you this, if the buyout does happen and the Suns do that, I I honestly could see them doing it. you’d have to pay him for five years. So 110 divided by five, we’re talking $22 million a year that they’re going to have to pay him, which sucks, but you kind of get the contract off the books, I guess. See, I don’t even know how that works because I’ve never heard of that until this. I want to see the Milwaukee Bucks payroll. Do you have $22 million on your payroll or does it just vanish, I guess, from your from the role? So, I’m looking at the Bucks payroll right now and it doesn’t say Oh, it does say Damen Lillard. Yep, he’s on the payroll. So, that kind of sucks, but it would give them maybe a little more financial flexibility now and they could get under that second apron because I’m looking at another article and it says that the Suns right now are over the second apron. So, they would probably want to get under that. As we know, it’s very important to get under that. So, if he is bought out, then you know, a lot of people are going to try to get Beal on their team. You know, he’s still a good player. This is a guy who averaged last season, I believe, 17 points a game. And I’m double checking right now. 17 points a game. Yep. Right on the dot. 17.0 to go along with three rebounds and four assists on 50% shooting and 39 from three. So, and 80 from the line. So, if you look at his efficiency, he’s still pretty good. It’s just he shoots 13 shots a game. He doesn’t get to the free throw line much. Just three free throw attempts per game. So, you know, it’s kind of similar to in the sense of like this efficiency and not getting to the free throw line like Kawhai, but obviously I’m not comparing him as a scorer to Kawhai. He does operate from similar areas though and probably is still a little quicker than Kawhai. But, you know, it’s not even a comparison who’s a better scorer. Kawhai obviously has that postgame, that strength, but be last season played 53 games, which is funny enough exactly the same amount that he played in the 2024 season. 53 games. So, my thing with Bradley Beal is this. He could get bought out and he would be on the market, but how much would he even want? You know what I’m saying? How much does Bradley Beal think he’s worth? And the first person that reported the Clippers in the mix was Om Yung Masuk of ESPN. And he said that the Clippers could be a potential destination for Beal if the Suns decided to copy the Bucks by waving and stretching the remaining hundreds of millions on Beal’s contract. And he said if Bradley Beal were to be bought out of his contract, perhaps the Clippers would, he’s saying perhaps, so there’s not really that much to it, I don’t think, would be bought would be a player, but you never know. He could be saying perhaps that could be. He has sources. cuz he’s around LA. So, he could know that there’s maybe an interest, but he said perhaps the Clippers would be a player. The Clippers have always been advantageous about getting stars on the cheap. And when I’m talking stars, he mentioned some old stars, John Wall, Rajan, Rond, Russell Westbrook. He said they could be very advantageous if something like that would happen. Now, the question is, how much would he be worth? Now, it says here that I asked a few executives around the league. This is no longer Ethnis. This is Keith Smith. I asked a few executives around the league what they believe Beal could be worth if he were a free agent. The consensus was in the range of the mid-level exception, which starts with $14 million in salary. We don’t have that anymore since we gave some to Brook Lopez. So, we’d have to clear some salary in which case, you know, for sure Bugdanovich or Norman Powell are probably going out. Now, the thing is, what are we trading them for? Because if we want to make a direct trade, we have to have matching salaries coming our way. So, are we using that to get a power forward? I know we got some money off the books with Drew Eubanks, but it’s just a complicated situation. The question is, Clipper Nation, would you want to see Bradley Beal? Let’s talk about what he could bring. Coming up, I got to tell you a little something about game time. We’ve all been there. Logging on early and waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale only to lose your spot for a show you’ve been dying to see. Live music should be about making memories, not dealing with the stress of ticket shopping. That’s where Game Time comes in. Game time makes getting concert tickets faster and easier than ever. Prices actually drop as it gets closer to Showtime. And you can save up to 60% off with their killer last minute deals. With Game Time, the price you see is the price you pay. No hidden fees. I used game time for the NLCS game one last year and it was awesome. Last minute, too. Just take the guesswork out of buying tickets and concert show show tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L O C K D O NA for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, so Bradley Beal, what could he possibly bring to the LA Clippers? Now, here’s my thing. If we’re talking about bringing in Bradley Beal and keeping Norm and Bogey on the roster, I am out. I am just like, are you kidding me? But it seems like in every situation, in every scenario that people have, it’s we’re getting Bradley Beal and Norm or Bogey are gone. However, who are they being traded for? You know what I’m saying? Are we doing a like Bradley Be will be bought out? This isn’t a trade. So, it’s very complicated in ways. We’d have to have made a trade first. So, I’m more interested in what’s coming back in that trade. But, I’ll just say this. Let’s say for episode’s sake, we take Norman Powell off the team and we replace him with Bradley Beal. Now we have James Harden, Bradley Beal, Kawhai. Yes, I don’t know D. Let’s say we keep it as is. So Kawhai’s at the four. So we have Chris Dunn. So three guard set. Chris Dunn, Beal, and Harden. It was going to be a three guard set with Norm Beal and Harden. Now Norm is not Beal is not as bulky as Norman and Powell. They’re about the same size, 6’4. I’d say Bele was a better defender. In the 2024 season, he was their main point of attack defender. Now, that’s obviously one of the reasons why Phoenix was bad at defense, but Norman Pal, I don’t think on any NBA roster, even the Suns of 2024, would be the number one point of attack defender. So, I think Beal, just by that virtue of that, he’s a little bit better defensively, but he’s much lazier than he was in the start of his career in those early Washington days when they were getting to the second round with John Wall. What I think Bradley Beal can bring though if let’s say that’s our team that’s a needle mover in my opinion actually not like to win a championship but we have I think the offense in terms of if everyone plays up to their worth and is healthy to contend for actually see I don’t know about OKC just because they’re so young and like I don’t I don’t like the way we match up with them but to be the second best team in the west I really think that we could be cuz Beal can get his off the bounce. He’s still nice. Like he he’s still nice. Not like all-star nice, but he maybe not it doesn’t move without the ball the way Norm does, and he definitely doesn’t get the easy baskets and attack the rim the way he does. But I think in a playoff setting, maybe not in the regular season, but in a playoff setting, I have so much confidence that Bo would be better than Norm. He’s been there before in a bigger role because he was the third pick in the draft. He has that step back. He can score from three levels. And more importantly, he creates his own shot. So, I actually like Real’s game. I just think that as a number one or number two option, no way. He would be our third option, but our second scoring option, which is kind of like essentially Beal’s replacing Paul George. Now, do I think Beal’s better than Paul George right now? I mean, he had a better year, but I don’t think he’s better than Paul George, but maybe Beal being a little bit more realistic with who he is is better for us. Because the problem with Paul George is he left so much on the table all the time. If we get Beal knowing that he’s going to score maybe 18 19 points a game, second leading scoreer on the team behind Kaw or honestly I think for the best case scenario Harden would be you know 17 a game or so. Beal’s like 22 a game but he hasn’t let’s see when the last time he averaged over 20 was with the Wizards 23 points a game. But look he shot 51% in 2024. He shot 51% in 2023. You know, he’s been pretty efficient his entire career after, say, the first three years, and that was also a different era. This is a guy who averaged 30 plus, two years in a row, and one of those was on an all-star, oh, sorry, was on a playoff team with Russell Westbrook in Washington in 2021. Now, he’s not that guy anymore. He declined after that year. He declined at age 28, which I thought was very weird, but I think injuries had to do with that. you know, he only played 40 games out of 82 in 2022, and you know, his shot attempts dropped down. His effort level straight up just dropped down. But I think he would be an upgrade over Brad over Norman Powell for sure. I think Beal, the thing about Beal though is he lacks seriousness in the same way that Paul does. Like some of his answers, but he doesn’t even hide it. That’s the difference. Or Paul is like act like he cares. But Bradley Beal, like he says things that are just like he’s just happy to be in the NBA and getting paid. sometimes and Wizards fans felt that when he left, they were not as I I have some friends that are Wizards fans and I remember being in Wizards spaces like the night the night that he came back with from that huge comeback and Luke Canard had that four-point play. I was in a Wizard space and they were ripping Bradley Beal to shreds. These were people in DC and my friend was a Wizards fan from Alexandria, Virginia. Shout out to my boy Chris. He that I went to UMass with, he wanted Beal gone. Like they were appreciative of those early years, but they don’t view Beal the way they view John Wall. So, every single organization that Beiel’s played for, two of them have seen that lack of seriousness. So, that’s what makes me a little skeptical of him, but I think he’s worth the skill upgrade and the basketball player upgrade over Norman Pal. I think Norman Pal had a better season last year, but I think if it was Beal and James Harden, I think Beal would be averaging 20 plus easily as well. And I think Beal wants a bigger role than what he had in Phoenix. I think it was too many guards around in Phoenix. And we have a lot of guards, but not that can create their own shot like that. So, I’d be open to it, but there’s just things that have to happen first. There’s just things that have to happen first. But, I mean, James Harden, Bradley Beal, it’s still not great defensively, but I think we might upgrade a little bit there. Chris Dunn, Kawawaii, and it gives us another guy when Kawhai’s out. That’s one thing I like. And also can he can also handle the ball and pick and roll. Like, he’s not a great passer, but he can do it. He can get to his if teams are in drop coverage, you can get to his mid-range all day long. He’s not a bad passer. He’s just not a great one. I would I would say he’s maybe a little below average, but maybe it’s just it’s just been I mean I watched a good amount of Suns games, but he was like he was he didn’t touch the ball that much with the Suns. Like he worked quickly off the catch, but that’s good around James Harden. So yes, if you would hypothetically give us Bradley Beal over Norman Pal, I’d be pretty happy with that. But you know what I will say though, it’s just hard because in the playoffs he didn’t play very well. But Norman Powell is just more serious to me. Like relative to how good he is, I feel like Norman Powell will leave you less disappointed. So that kind of reminds me of what I said about Paul George. But I don’t know. This might be a good place for Beal. He does operate for some of the same areas as Kawi, but Harden is different. So like I think he could have one guy that operates in similar areas. Anyway, what are the actual possibilities of it happening though? Going to be talking about that coming up. All right, so the LA Clippers might be in the mix for Bradley Beal if he gets bought out. And the whole thing about it is if you know what I’m saying. It was worth talking about because it’s been floated in the air. I see some of my Twitter followers, mutuals talking about it, but what are the possibilities that what’s the possibility that Bradley Beal is a Clipper this fall? I don’t think it’s that high. I don’t I think the Suns, you know, they got to make a decision. Do they want to just let Beal go? It’s not like he’s a bad player, but does it stunt Jaylen Green’s growth? Does it take the ball out of Booker’s hands? I don’t know. Do they want to have a three guard starting lineup with all three of those guys next year? They just don’t want that contract. They don’t want to be over the second apron. So, I think it’s there’s a apparently they got to do it by July 6th. That’s what it says that by July 6th there’s going to be a move made that we’re going to find out. But if I had to guess, I honestly like I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m stumped on this one because part of me thinks the Suns don’t want to just pay him those five years. They’re going to just bite the bullet and see if they can field a competitive team this year. You know, they have Dylan Brooks. But see, that’s another guard, right? But I don’t know. That’s just so small. Like imagine if you started Jaylen Green, Dylan Brooks, Beal, and Booker. It just doesn’t make sense. You got to move off one of them and you’re not going to move off Booker and you just got Jaylen Green. So the logical one is Beal. If I had to put my money on it, I think he’s getting bought out. I think they’re doing it. I think they’re going to do it and he’s going to become a free agent. I think Miami would be the place that needs him the most. I don’t know though because Tyler Herro, DaVon Mitchell, I wonder if they want that to be their starting back court next year because DaVon Mitchell showed some really good signs, you know, in that playing game against Atlanta and against uh Chicago. He was a beast. So, we’ll see. I mean, we’ll see with Bradley Beal, but I don’t think if I had to put my money on if he’s going to be a Clipper, I would probably say no because I need to see those trades happen. We can’t just We don’t have the full mid level. So yeah, it seems like Dwayne Rankin is got a lot of that, you know, being covered on the Arizona Republic. So I guess I’m giving him a free plug right now. Check him out. He’s doing a lot of work on it. Uh but yeah, how the Phoenix Suns could work out a buyout with Bradley Beal. Of course, trading him is the first option. It says in this article, I’m reading the article now. Trading the first trading is the first option, but nobody’s going to want to take that contract. Nobody. And then he’s going to have to wave the no trade clause. But I think it’s going to be much harder to get teams to agree to getting Bradley Beal than him to wave his no trade clause. I think nobody wants him. So then the other option is buying him out, which would make him a free agent. It says Phoenix has a salary cap hit of $3.8 million consisting of Nasir Little’s $3.1 million to EJ Liddell’s 76,898. The maximum amount that can count against the cap is 23 million. So, the Suns could negotiate a buyout with Beal that reduce his salary to say 80 million. Yeah, as Bobby Mark suggested in a report and stretch it over five years. But Phoenix would have a $16 million cap hit per year as the savings would put the Suns under the first and second league tax apron and save them nearly $200 million in luxury taxes. So, that’s I guess what they’re going to try to do, but I think Beal would have to, you know, be going to have to agree to that. I believe so. Oh, apparently Beal, okay, it says Beal wouldn’t Yeah, Beiel wouldn’t want to lose any money on the buyout. The most the Suns could give Beal in a buyout is essentially $96 million. They can’t go over the max amount of $23 million against the cap. Beal’s new team would be responsible for the remaining $14 million, okay, of the two years left. See, like, do teams want to take that on? Like, that’s another thing. So, like, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s if I’m the Clippers, I don’t even get involved. Let’s just try to get a power forward from one of Norman Bogey and then move on cuz that sounds like just a lot. You know what I mean? We got to take down the ex the money that he’s not getting in the buyout and it’s just like I don’t I don’t know. I’m not uh I’m not open to it. I still think though Bradley Beal could be good somewhere. It just depends on what his role is. If he was a the confident role I think is if he was a sixth man, he would be amazing. Like that would be great. He was doing that in Phoenix, but they just didn’t have a very good team around him. But yeah, that’s kind of the news on Bradley Beal. As far as other news of the Clippers, I mean, there’s nothing right now about Chris Paul. You know, this talks have have stalled. I’ve seen people put LeBron James in trade machines with the Clippers. Like, I’m like, dude, what? Another name that’s coming up is Andrew Wiggins. as of today, the 4th of July. Greg Sander is a Heat guy, said the Clippers could be potential shooters for the 30-year-old. That’s all he said. And again, you know, he’s not a power forward, but he’s a big forward with length and size that plays defense. Would he be the answer to that power forward spot that you are looking for, Clipper Nation? I mean, everyone keeps mentioning Jon Collins. Maybe I should do an episode on John Collins, but I would love Andrew Wiggins. I just don’t know. Is he big enough? You know what I’m saying? I know it’s only one inch smaller than Collins, but it’s like the size. You know, John Collins feels like a modern power forward. Andrew Wiggins feels like a small forward who can play up in smaller lineups, but I think Wiggins and Kawhai might give you enough length and size. And Wiggins going out there and doing the dirty work around Kawhai and Harden. That would be ideal. Then he can also create his own shot as well because he’d be losing Norman Powell, but you still have a Vita Zubots. So, you know, you’d be losing some shooting there without Norming. But I think Wiggins could still score the ball. I can still average 15 points a game on our team. So, it would be nice. I I would definitely rather have Wiggins than Norm. I mean, with this defense, no question about it. We just again, we’re taking a shooting hit, which kind of sucks because our shooting wasn’t good enough last season, but getting Wiggins, he’s going to be able to do some things that Chris Dunn does, which is be a good onball defender. Now, is he as good as Chris Dunn as a defender right now? No. I think he’s declined a little bit since that title in 2022, but I think we could definitely use him. like he could definitely guard and can be the best defender in some lineups for sure. So, we would be able to keep Bogey, Harden, and Kawhai out there together at times. But I don’t know. We’ll see about Andrew Wiggins. I wonder what that trade would look like. They want Norman Pal. I don’t know if I want Norman Pal next to Tallahero, unless they want to bring Norm off the bench. But yeah, Andrew Wiggins, I think he’d be a good addition for sure. He would be able to fill in that role, I guess. I just don’t know if he’s big enough, but he’s a good player. He’s definitely a good player. He can guard up. He can guard guards. He would give us something. But anyway, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram, Dimedropper Pod. Subscribe to my own YouTube channel, Dimeropper, where I’m starting to go live more to talk about free agency moves and whatnot. So, I’ll be continuing to produce content also on playoff series I didn’t talk about during the playoffs. and then locked down clippers free and available wherever you get your podcast. By the way, looks like I’m going to summer league. Still waiting on the credential, but uh on we’re going to find out I think in the next two days, but I am going to summer league. I’ll be there from the 10th to the 15th. So, please let’s go to summer league. Let’s have a good time. I’ll be there. And yeah, make sure you subscribe to Lockdown Clippers and hit the notification bell so you know every single time we post a video. Yeah, every single time we post a video. And of course, let’s get up to 8,000 subscribers. I’m trying to get that 8K. You know what I’m saying? And of course, you can listen wherever you get your podcast. Do not forget that this is also primarily a podcast on audio for Apple podcast and Spotify. And wherever you get your pods, make sure to check out the other locked on shows, all 30 teams and all sports. You got MLB, you got locked on Dodgers, locked on Angels, you know, Locked on LA Kings, Ducks, all of that good stuff. So, the Lockdown Podcast Network, your home for local sports coverage. The age-old proverb continues. Go Clippers.

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