Washington Wizards point guard Bradley Beal is one of the most sought after players in the NBA heading into the 2019–20 season. The Wizards are stuck in limbo at the moment. They have little sense of direction on whether to focus on rebuilding or winning now.

One of the possible scenarios is trading Beal to Boston Celtics. Today will look at Beal’s career, the potential trade, and whether it would be smart for both sides.

Bradley Beal’s career so far

Beal has put up nearly 20 points per game during his career while shooting over 38% from 3-point range. He’s a very good second option in the Wizards offense and has made the All-Star team twice.

Even with his success on the court, the franchise still has not won 50 games with him and star point guard John Wall leading the way.

The Wizards extension offer

Washington offered Beal a three-year, $100 million extension during the 2019 offseason that he has yet to sign. We think it is a very smart move by Beal. Washington has not shown any significant progress improving the roster, and point guard John Wall will probably be out for the season with a ruptured Achilles.

We don’t expect the Wizards to be in the playoff hunt next season, with or without Bradley Beal on the team.

Why Boston should make the trade

After signing Kemba Walker in a sign-and-trade deal that sent Terry Rozier to Charlotte, the Celtics are still in pretty good shape at the point guard position. Back up Marcus Smart was named to the All-NBA Defensive first team, which is unprecedented for a bench player in today’s game. Having him behind Walker gives the Celtics the freedom to take some of the load off Walker.

The pieces mentioned in the potential trade are Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown. Hayward showed promise at times last season coming off his broken leg, but the Celtics are overcrowded at the small forward position. Shipping out Hayward’s contract along with the potential of Jaylen Brown could be too much for the Wizards to pass up.

Boston’s outlook with Bradley Beal

Moving both Hayward and Brown will give Celtics forward Jayson Tatum the opportunity to shine. Tatum can be an explosive player, and during the Celtics’ 2018 postseason run, he did just that. At times he went toe to toe with LeBron James in the Eastern Conference finals, and everyone around the NBA could tell he was going to be a big-time player in the league.

A starter lineup that includes Beal, Walker, and Tatum would be a very tough matchup in the East. They did lose veteran center/power forward Al Horford to the Philadelphia 76ers, but we see no reason to believe the Celtics can’t finish with a top-3 seed in the East. 

Milwaukee and Philadelphia will battle for much of the season for the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, but why can’t Boston be included in the picture? The team should have a shot at winning at least 45 games in a watered-down Eastern Conference.

Brooklyn could also make noise with Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan joining the team next season, but we won’t count on Irving’s leadership skills to get them to host a first-round series in April. 

Will the deal get done?

There’s a slight chance that the Wizards can execute a deal to ship Bradley Beal to Boston. What do you think the Wizards will do? What should they do? Do you expect Boston to land the two-time All-Star? We believe there’s a 50-50 chance of it happening, and if it does, the Celtics improve their odds of coming out of the East next postseason.