Does Trading For Bradley Beal Fit The Golden State Warriors Way?
The Golden State Warriors entered the 2020–21 season in a state of limbo. At the start of the year, they hoped to return strong from the abbreviated 2019–20 season by having a fully healthy reunion of the Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, who had both missed nearly the entire season previous. The team would be adding the second pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, would have a full season of trade acquisition Andrew Wiggins, as well as the newly acquired Kelly Oubre. However, this plan did not survive even to the evening of the draft.
Hours before the Warriors selected center James Wiseman with the second pick, news broke that Klay Thompson had torn his Achilles tendon in a scrimmage game. The news was devastating, coming just as Thompson had seemingly recovered from the ACL tear that had caused him to miss all of 19–20. The Warriors’ hopes of championship contention were seemingly dashed before they even began.
So far in the 2019–20 season, Golden State is making do as best as could reasonably be hoped for under the circumstances. Steph Curry has showed that he is still one of the best basketball players in the world, including dropping a career-high 62 points against the Portland Trail Blazers. Draymond Green remains a cornerstone on the defensive end. Andrew Wiggins has adjusted well with the team as a two-way threat on the wing, and James Wiseman has shown flashes of potential for the future star he could become.
The team has shown they can beat any team in the league on a given night, but they still struggle to put together consistent runs of success. Currently, they are on the fringes of playoff contention, one of several teams in the Western Conference fighting for a berth in the league’s play in round. This has led some to question whether or not a big move is in order for Golden State.
Meanwhile, across the country, the Washington Wizards are a franchise in total freefall. They boast one of the league’s worst records, largely due to a horrific defense, and injuries to key contributors Thomas Bryant and Russell Westbrook, as well as the whole team having to sit out for weeks due to a series of COVID-19 cases. All in all, their season could not be worse- except for the play of Bradley Beal.
Drafted with the third overall selection in 2012, Bradley Beal has blossomed into one of the NBA’s most potent offensive players. As of the 2020–21 season, he leads the NBA in points per game, with an extremely impressive 34.9 points per game. He also tied Washington’s franchise record for points scored in a single game, with 60. And yet, Washington’s winning ways have him looking openly miserable sitting on his team’s bench.
Although Beal has yet to request a trade, rumors have increasingly swirled that the obviously rebuilding Wizards will seek to trade him in order to secure a package of draft picks and young players. Increasingly, talk has also begun to percolate that the Warriors could, or should be part of the bidding- most notably in an article written in The Ringer by Jonathan Tjarks, titled “Steph Curry should Demand A Bradley Beal Trade.”
The case Tjarks makes essentially boils down to the idea that the Warriors cannot afford to squander the remaining years of Steph Curry’s prime years waiting for young players to develop. The players in question would be Wiseman as well as whoever the Warriors would pick with the top three protected draft pick they own from the Minnesota Timberwolves (who will almost certainly be a lottery team this season).
The Warriors could pair Beal with Curry immediately, and then have one of the league’s most potent scoring threesomes next year when Klay returns from his injury. However, the question that inevitably arises is- would such a team be able to contend for an NBA championship right away? As talented of a scorer as Beal as, would such a Warriors team be able to match up against LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ Lakers, for the immediate future the default favorites in the Western Conference? Or even the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks or Joel Embiid’s 76ers in the East?
The answer would likely be no, and although they have not commented on this publicly, the Warriors’ overall philosophy would seem to indicate they do not share Tjarks’ view. The Warriors have expressed a desire to replicate the sustained success of the San Antonio Spurs, who built a championship contender that lasted for more than two decades. Going all in with Bradley Beal is not the way to accomplish such a task.
In addition to Wiseman, the Wolves’ 2021 draft pick Golden State owns could be a boon as well if it lands in the top four, five or six. The 2021 draft is deep, with potential franchise players available even outside of the top three (the Wolves would retain it if it landed in that spot). The hope would be that that player and Wiseman would develop into franchise cornerstones that could take over from an aging Curry and Thompson.
Furthermore, such a development curve for the next generation of star Warriors players would likely coincide with the decline of the Lakers- LeBron James, as great as he is, will lose out to Father Time eventually, and ideally the timing of that would set the Warriors up perfectly to contend with Wiseman, the 2021 draftee, and a post-prime but still contributing Curry and Thompson.
Nearly half a decade ago, the Warriors were facing pressure to trade a young piece for an already-established superstar to open their championship window- that would be Kevin Love, and the young piece in question was Klay Thompson. Ultimately, the Warriors showed patience and faith in their ability to develop Thompson, and were rewarded for it with three NBA championships. As tempting as Bradley Beal may be, the patient approach is likely to be the correct one once again.
