Bradley Beal‘s time in the nation’s capital might be coming to an end after 11 seasons.
The Washington Wizards will work with the three-time All-Star shooting guard on possible trade scenarios, ESPN and The Athletic reported Wednesday. Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, and Wizards president Michael Winger are expected to remain in “close contact” over possible scenarios involving Beal throughout the offseason as the team charts its path for the future, ESPN added in its report.
Beal opted to remain with the Wizards last offseason, signing a five-year, $251 million contract in free agency that is one of the largest contracts in NBA history. The contract also gave Beal a no-trade clause, making him just the 10th player in NBA history to receive such a clause. He is the only active player with one.
The contract Beal signed in 2022 was signed by former Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard, who was fired in April. Winger was hired to replace Sheppard in late May.
If Beal and the Wizards opt to move forward with a trade, the Miami Heat are expected to be “prominent suitors” for him, The Athletic mentioned in its report. While the Heat just made a surprise run to the NBA Finals, their scoring problems emerged in the final three games of the series as they scored 95 points or fewer in each game. They also ranked 25th in offensive rating during the regular season.
Beal began his NBA career with the Wizards in 2012, when they selected him with the No. 3 overall pick in that year’s draft. He became one of the league’s top shooting guards not long after that. He scored more than 30 points per game in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. He scored 23.2 PPG this past season, making 50.6% of his shots from the field and 36.5% of his shots from deep.
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