The Charlotte Hornets have inquired with the Washington Wizards about the possibility of acquiring shooting guard Bradley Beal, an informed source told the Observer Tuesday.
The source didn’t identify what the Hornets have offered for Beal, a 6-foot-5 guard averaging 21.5 points this season, or whether any progress has been made toward a deal.
Beal could be the second scoring option to point guard Kemba Walker this team has lacked in an 8-8 season. Walker is coming off two games in which he scored a combined 103 points. He is the NBA’s leading scorer at 29.6 points per game.
The Wizards are struggling at 5-11 this season with one of the heaviest player payrolls in the NBA at about $132 million. There were several published accounts this week of bickering between players and derogatory comments from players toward coach Scott Brooks and president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier this week the Wizards have made their roster available in trade, including All-Stars Beal and point guard John Wall.
Beal is in the third year of a five-year contract worth $127 million. His salary this season is about $25 million.
Trade assets
If the Hornets become serious bidders for Beal, what might they have to give up? Assuming the Wizards are receptive to a rebuild and that the Hornets wouldn’t include Walker, the Hornets’ best trade assets would be young players on relatively cheap contracts and future draft picks.
Those young, affordable Charlotte players would be rookie Miles Bridges and second-year pros Malik Monk and Dwayne Bacon. Each is signed beyond this season. As first-round picks, Bridges’ and Monk’s salaries are limited by the rookie pay scale. Bacon, a second-round pick in 2017, makes $1.6 million next season.
The Hornets have plenty of future draft picks available, plus centers such as Willy Hernangomez and Frank Kaminsky on short-term, affordable contracts.
The Hornets’ current starter at shooting guard is Jeremy Lamb, averaging 13.7 points this season. Lamb’s contract expires after this season. He makes about $7.5 million, and would figure to get a considerable raise via free agency.
Any trade package would have to not only satisfy the Wizards, but also roughly match Beal’s $25 million cap hit this season. That would logically mean including one of the Hornets’ higher-priced veterans such as Nic Batum ($24 million this season), Bismack Biyombo ($17 million), Marvin Williams ($14 million) or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist ($13 million).
All four of those players’ contracts include salary obligations beyond this season, which would not necessarily be attractive to the Wizards.
Wizards’ situation
What’s less clear is how open the Wizards would be to giving up Beal, who made his first All-Star appearance last season. The pairing of Beal and Wall make for one of the most talented backcourts in the NBA. At 25 and in his seventh season, Beal is seemingly in his NBA prime.
The Wizards drafted Beal out of Florida third overall in the 2012 draft. That was one pick after the Hornets (then-Bobcats) selected Kidd-Gilchrist out of Kentucky. The Bobcats had the worst record in the NBA (7-59 in a lockout-shortened season), but received the second selection in the draft lottery, missing out on Anthony Davis, who was drafted by New Orleans.
The Wizards have spent heavily to retain and acquire talent. In addition to huge contracts for Wall and Beal, they matched the Brooklyn Nets’ offer sheet to small forward Otto Porter in the summer of 2017. That contract committed Washington to $107 million over four years.
This summer the Wizards signed former Hornets center Dwight Howard to a two-year contract that pays him $5.3 million this season and $5.6 million next season (at Howard’s option).
The Wizards have qualified for the playoffs four of the past five seasons, but have not advanced past the second round in that span.
Assuming Grunfeld is receptive to roster change does not mean he’d be willing to give up Beal for anything short of young talent with All-Star potential. Also, when teams consider trading away an All-Star talent, they generally prefer moving him to the other conference, as when the Minnesota Timberwolves recently sent Jimmy Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers.