Nets: Why a Bradley Beal Would and Wouldn’t Make Sense
The Cons of a Bradley Beal Trade
While all that sounds good, Beal is under contract for three more seasons with a player option for the 2022-2023 season, so the only way to acquire him is via trade. With the 2020-2021 salary cap expected to be about $115 million, the Brooklyn Nets already have $142 million committed in player salaries, and that’s with Deron Williams‘ contract finally coming off the books after this season. They can decrease that total by approximately $6.7 million by not picking up the team option on both Theo Pinson and Garrett Temple.
Beal is set to make about $28.7 million next season, and since the Nets do not have any cap space, they would have to match all incoming salaries for any trades. That means to get Beal; the Nets would likely have to part ways with Dinwiddie ($11.4 million) and fringe All-Star Caris Levert ($16.2 million) along with a third player as well as multiple draft picks.
The Nets fully expect Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to be healthy by the start of next season, adding Beal to the mix will prove to be challenging. Adding a star to a new team comes with all types of chemistry concerns, and after the firing of Kenny Atkinson, whoever is to become the new head coach of the Nets will implement a new system that the entire team will have to adjust to on the fly.
While general manager Sean Marks may be in the market for a third star, I do not believe that is the direction to go for the Nets giving their cap situation. With Kyrie set to make $34.9 million and KD set to make $39 million, acquiring Beal’s contract would effectively tie up 88 percent of the salary cap between three players.
That would make Marks’ job of improving the roster much more complicated and would require a lot of creativity. As of right now he can only upgrade via trade, committing over $100 million to three players over the next three years is not ideal, just ask Elton Brand how that’s working out for them in Philly right now.
The team is in desperate need of 3 point shooting and rebounding. While having a healthy Kevin Durant can make things easier for everyone on the roster, he alone cannot solve all of the Nets’ problems. And acquiring Beal would add more scoring but, in turn, will create more holes on defense, the Nets will lose the little depth of quality players they have, and they will still need to acquire more shooting and rebounding elsewhere.