The Killer B’s: The NBA’s Best New Back Court
Beal is coming off of the best season of his NBA career, proving his ability to be “the guy” for the Washington Wizards franchise by averaging 30.5 points, 6.1 assists, 4.2 rebounds on 45%/35%/84% shooting splits.
He was on a truly horrid Wizards team at 24-40 and 9th place in the Eastern Conference.
If the Suns truly want to experiment more with “Point Book” again in 2020-21, Beal is absolutely the best person to pair him with in the backcourt as two elite scoring guards who can initiate the offense or play off of the ball.
Two All-NBA caliber guards who can put up 25-6-4 on a nightly basis is truly special and would be the best duo the Suns have had since Nash and Amar’e.
They would also instantly create the best backcourt in the NBA next season, save for Steph Curry and Klay Thompson returning to their 2015-2018 magic.
Although it seems crazy for the Wizards to trade their best player entering his prime at the age of 27 (he turns 27 on June 28) they are in dire need of a culture change and as a team with no cap space and the responsibility to pay $133 million to John Wall through 2023.
$133 million is a lot to play a point guard who will be on the other side of 30 next season and is coming off the dreaded torn Achilles injury.
They are stuck with John Wall. It is without question the worst contract in the NBA right now and it isn’t even close.
The only way for them to move forward is to bottom out even more and load up on cap space and draft picks and likely buyout Wall 2022 if he can’t return to being an All-Star point guard.
So what would an offer look like?
Suns Receive: Bradley Beal
Wizards Receive: Kelly Oubre Jr., Cameron Johnson, Jalen Lecque, 2020 1st Round Pick, 2022 1st Round Pick, 2024 1st Round Pick, and 2021 2nd Round Pick
I know what you are thinking. Why would the Wizards trade for Kelly Oubre a year and a half after dealing him instead of signing him to an extension after his rookie contract?
Current Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard has been a part of the front office since 2003 when previous GM Ernie Grunfeld took over and worked with the scouting department when they drafted Kelly Oubre with the 15th pick of the 2015 NBA Draft.
He likely had a big role in drafting Oubre and may not have been on board with trading him to Phoenix (just a guess) as he wasn’t calling the shots. Grunfeld was fired a few months later.
Front office personnel often have a soft spot for guys they scouted and want to be proven right. Oubre’s breakout as a Sun could validate what Shepard thought Oubre could be for years.
Beyond that, getting another young wing player built for today’s game in Johnson, a swing at a point guard of the future in Lecque, and three first-round picks is a nice haul for a star.