Magic Johnson’s plan is to eventually add a second superstar to the Los Angeles Lakers alongside LeBron James. Thus, Bradley Beal has taken his turn in the Lakers rumors.
TheLos Angeles Lakersrumors seemingly have the team tied to every and any possible superstar that would somewhat make sense for the Lakers to pursue. The latest star to take his turn in the Lakers rumors is Washington’s own,Bradley Beal.
Beal, 25, is one of the best young shooting guards in the game and would be the perfect scoring two to add alongsideLeBron James. Beal essentially is a discounted version ofKlay Thompson, another superstar the Lakers have been connected to.
The idea of trading for Beal first emerged whenAdrian Wojnarowski reportedthat the Wizards would be willing to move either Beal or Wall in the right trade package.
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These ideas only grew stronger when it was reported that Beal wanted out of Washington, somethinghe refutedafter the team’s win over the Houston Rockets on Monday. While Beal may have refuted it, the Wizards have the final say in the matter and would benefit from dealing Beal with no real shot of winning a title with Beal and Wall together.
The only problem is that the reports around Beal wanting out of Washington significantly hurt the Wizards chances of getting a return, similar to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ situation withJimmy Butler.
With opposing teams knowing that Beal wants out, the Washington Wizards lose all the leverage in trade talks. With no real shot of dealingJohn Wallbecause of his massive extension that kicks in, the Wizards are going to have to hope to get 90 cents on the dollar and get a return that can potentially help the team succeed.
While controllable young assets are also something of interest, the Wizards best bet might be to take the Timberwolves route of getting an established guy, likeRobert Covington, alongside a promising young player, likeDario Saric.
With all of this in mind, it becomes evident that the Los Angeles Lakers have too much trade value to make a deal for Beal. I know, that sounds confusing, but the Lakers would essentially be getting 90 cents for the dollar if they were to acquire Beal.
The biggest name connected to the Wizards isBrandon Ingram, someone the Lakersreportedly would be hesitantto deal for Beal.
The Lakers have every reason to be hesitant. While Beal is an all-star-caliber player, Ingram’s potential ceiling is higher than Beal’s current production and because of that ceiling, the Lakers can get a bigger return out of him.
Los Angeles has no established guy to send Washington that would help them for more than a season and the chances of the Wizards taking aJosh HartandKentavious Caldwell-Popepackage is slim.
The Lakers would be much better suited to capitalize on other Lakers rumors and include Ingram in a package to land megastarAnthony Davisin the future. There are so many different routes and options the Lakers have, dealing Ingram for Beal would simply be rushing the process.
With that in mind, I do not think we will see these Lakers rumors come to fruition for Bradley Beal, as interesting as a Beal-LeBron partnership would be.
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