Bradley Beal drops 'respectful' admission about Wizards front office

“The minute that DC made that change in the front office, I ain’t gonna lie, I love ’em to death but them boys ain’t waste no time,” Beal admitted. “They said ‘aye B, we think it’s time. Let’s turn this chapter, let’s get you to somewhere where you can win, allow us to get some pieces back and rebuild this thing and do it the right way.’ And when I heard that I said ‘you know what, that’s probably one of the most respectful things I’ve heard.'”

Beal averaged 22.1 points on 46% shooting with 4.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game across his 11 seasons in Washington. However, the five-year, $251 million fully guaranteed deal he signed with the club’s previous regime in 2022 robbed its flexibility to build a quality team under the salary cap. It made sense for both sides to move on.

“I’ve loved all of the guys that I’ve had the pleasure of playing for in years past, but we never built a team…Those things never happened,” Beal continued. “You kind of get the short end of the stick a little bit. That’s the toughest part which I wish fans knew a lot more…it’s about what they’re willing to do up top.”

The Wizards traded Beal, Jordan Goodwin and Isaiah Todd to the Phoenix Suns on June 23, 2023 for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, a 2024 second round pick, a ’25 second rounder, a ’26 second rounder, a ’27 second rounder, a ’28 second rounder, a ’30 second rounder, a ’24 first round pick swap, a ’26 first round pick swap, a ’28 first round pick swap, a ’30 first round pick swap, and $3.5 million.

Who is winning the trade so far?

Bradley Beal trade set up Wizards’ future

While Paul and Shamet are on longer on the team, the trade helped Washington stockpile draft picks to accelerate its rebuild. In addition to its young core of Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, and Kyshawn George, the Wizards now own a total of 11 first round picks and 17 second rounders from now until 2031.

Rather than stagnating around a veteran core of Beal, Kyle Kuzma, and Kristaps Porzingis, Washington paired Kuzma with 25-year-old guard Jordan Poole to lead the roster while the aforementioned young quartet developing. Poole is in the second year of a four-year, $128,000 deal he signed with the Golden State Warriors before they traded him to the Wizards, which is a much more manageable contract than Beal’s.

As for Phoenix, Beal scored 18.2 points on 51.3% shooting with 4.4 rebounds and five assists per game alongside Devin Booker and Kevin Durant last season. However, the Suns got swept in the Western Conference Quarterfinals by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the team has little resources left to continue building the team.

Beal detailed the process leading up to the trade, via Run Your Race.

“My transition to Phoenix was a complete 360. First off, Phoenix wasn’t even in the picture for me to go to. That was a fly ball that came out of nowhere,” Beal explained. “I was just chilling, waiting on Miami to give me a grounder. Milwaukee, you know, those were kind of my two. Miami didn’t wanna do it for whatever reason.”

“Milwaukee, I was straddling the fence…My agent calls me…’what do you think of Phoenix?’ Not even an hour later, KD says ‘what we doing?’ Book hit me, ‘what we doing?’ I didn’t get that nowhere else.”

The Wizards and Suns exemplified two different philosophies, with the former slowly rebuilding and the latter throwing together a star veteran trio with little depth. Phoenix may be better for now, but Washington is better positioned for future success.