Lowe: 'Never Got the Sense' Bradley Beal-to-Warriors Trade Talks 'Went Anywhere'
June 17, 2022
While the Golden State Warriors reportedly explored a trade for Bradley Beal, they never came close to getting a deal done.
"I never got the sense those talks went anywhere," ESPN's Zach Lowe said on his podcast (31:40 mark) following Game 6 of the NBA Finals. "[The Athletic's] Marcus Thompson came on the podcast and said there were times the veterans wanted them to do something. But I think there was hesitancy, 'Can we defend well enough with Steph, Klay, Beal in our starting five? Versus Wiggins we feel like we have something here.' But Washington wasn't doing anything. Washington's never doing anything—ever—on that front, it seems."
ESPN's Ramona Shelburne previously reported the Warriors explored expediting their retooling process around Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green by trading for Beal, but "nothing came together in a way they liked."
Any framework of a Beal trade would have included Andrew Wiggins, who played a starring two-way role in these Finals. Wiggins averaged 18.3 points and 8.8 rebounds over the six-game series but was especially brilliant with back-to-back double-doubles in Games 4 and 5.
Beal has been trade-rumor fodder for years, with the All-Star guard and the Wizards seemingly willing to kick the can down the road at every turn. He can become an unrestricted free agent this offseason if he declines his $36.4 million player option, but he'd be hitting the open market at a point when few teams have significant cap space.
If Beal chooses to depart this offseason, he'd almost certainly have to do so via a sign-and-trade agreement.
It's unclear whether a Beal trade would have worked out for the Warriors. Any deal would have cost them Wiggins, likely along with Jordan Poole and other promising young players (at least one of the Jonathan Kuminga-James Wiseman-Moses Moody trio).
As it stands, the Warriors trusted in their player development process and came away with a championship team brimming with young talent.