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Should the Nets Trade for Bradley Beal? | Open Floor Podcast
The Nets made a big splash this offseason with the signings of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. With Durant most likely out the year recovering from an Achilles injury, Brooklyn is going to need to find help for Irving. Bradley Beal has been on the rumor mill since last season as a hot trade piece for teams but should the Nets target the All-Star to create a big three?
Andrew Sharp and The Washington Post's Ben Golliver discuss Beal trade possibilities and more on the latest Open Floor podcast.
(Listen to the latest Open Floor podcast here. The following transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
Andrew Sharp: Are we underrating the Brooklyn Nets as a possible suitor for Bradley Beal? That's the one team all summer long in the back of my mind I've been saying you know why wouldn't they make a play for Beal? What do you think about that possibility?
Ben Golliver: I got into this question I believe with Michael Lee earlier this summer and I'm right there with you man. I don't like the idea of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan as a big three. I reject it. I don't like the idea of Kyrie and Kevin as a big two that can be a title contending team by themselves. I reject it. I'm not totally sold at a guy like Caris LeVert can improve enough to put himself into that big three and make them a title contender. I'm hesitant on that one but I'm willing to let that see. But if you're telling me we're packaging some of these minor assets together and mortgaging the future a little bit with picks and now Beal is going to be locked in as part of the big three with Kyrie and Kevin, now I like this idea a lot more than any of those other alternatives.
Sharp: Zach Lowe wrote a column about this question this week where he was saying you know teams have to decide whether they want a big two or go for it with a big three or big two with depth or three stars basically is the question. And I think one of the things that I found interesting in there is ultimately how I would answer that question is that like guys like Spencer Dinwiddie are gonna eventually become expensive for the Nets and some of the role players that provide that depth now will hit free agency in a year or two and they'll have to pay those guys anyways.
It's the same reason the Lakers were better off waiting and trying to get three stars because you're going to get more bang for your buck with three superstars than you will if you're gonna have to start overpaying role players to fill out the roster. Like if it's a question of $30 million for D'Angelo Russell vs. paying Danny Green $15 million a year, like you're gonna be better off paying D'Angelo Russell and Beal is better than D'Angelo Russell obviously. D'Angelo is a little polarizing but I think that's why if I were the Nets, I would make calls on Beal every single week because you could bring in Beal now and it's suddenly like your ceiling gets higher for this season.
Golliver: I wouldn't have that be one of the major reasons I would do it. I think they should still be looking at punting this coming season because I mean Kyrie and scraps or Kyrie and Beal and scraps, you're not competing with Milwaukee, you're not competing with Philly, you're just not going to make the Eastern Conference finals right. So don't let that be driving you're thinking like if Kyrie is coming in training camp like I need some more help, you have to tell Kyrie look the help is coming, he is wearing No. 7. You have to wait on him. I don't think that they should be caught up in this like rat race of well let's go add Beal.
Sharp: No, no, no. It's just a fun bonus but I think that they should be pursuing Beal now to try and get him before another team steals him. But I don't know if they would have the assets necessarily. People love Caris LeVert. I thought he played really well in the Sixers series but you look at some of his numbers last year and I think he's a great sixth man but he's not someone I would want as a centrepiece of a Beal trade.
Golliver: That team was overrated top to bottom last year. I mean point blank. They got the cute story.
Sharp: And Caris was a great story. So it was cool to watch him succeed. But like let's not go overboard.
Golliver: He might have been the cutest story. I mean let's be real. Look at the injury and the incredible comeback. Like you said how he played in the playoffs and all that but that team was so overrated the whole way. Guys like you got excited after Game 1 of the playoffs, as you know nothing made me smirk harder and longer than that 48 hour period. I would not be wanting Caris LeVert as the centerpiece of a Beal package. I would be wanting a pick that was really, really good if I was Washington.
Sharp: I have no idea where he's going to end up. The Wizards people are very serious about just not trading him this year, so maybe he won't move at all but I feel like that's the next wild card that can kind of shake up the league a little bit.
