Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

New team emerges in Bradley Beal trade sweepstakes

By Jeff Smith | Last updated 6/16/23

While the Miami Heat appears primed to remain the frontrunner in the Bradley Beal trade sweepstakes, the rumors and rumblings point to a few teams pushing to join them near the front of the pack. The newest addition to the Bealstakes is a new one, which was pointed out by Marc Stein in The Stein Line, and he cites that it's the "first mention" he's heard of this potential fit.

The newest Beal rumors come from Turner Sports' Chris Haynes, who mentions the Brooklyn Nets as a team that could "factor in" to trade talks for Beal. Haynes spoke about it on the '#thisleague UNCUT' podcast.

It's an interesting idea, and while the Nets are technically in a "rebuild" they have a lot of talent on their roster still and a plethora of draft picks. Obviously, the draft picks aren't the appealing aspect for Beal, who should be focused on winning now, but there's plenty of reason to believe he could do that if he opted to waive the no-trade clause and accept a move to Brooklyn.

The Nets' rumored interest/potential to step into the pursuit of a Beal trade comes on the heels of another interesting tidbit from ESPN's Brian Windhorst on ESPN's 'Get Up,' who added another "surprise" team to the mix in the Milwaukee Bucks.

"Two teams that I want to mention that I think are in the forefront right now — the Miami Heat and this is a surprise, but this is what I've been told, the Milwaukee Bucks ... there are other teams on the periphery that I think are involved, but two teams I think at the forefront, Miami and Milwaukee," Windhorst said.

If things play out with this trio of teams, Beal could have a tough decision, but it does appear that the Heat are at or near the top of his list of potential teams to play for. For both the Bucks and Nets, it may be tough to convince the All-Star guard to flip away from Miami, but anything is possible. If the decision were being made today, and Beal was 100 percent going to be traded, the assumption seems to be that he would be on his way to South Beach.

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