Bill Simmons Thinks Bradley Beal Lands With The Sixers
A lot of the Sixers’ dream trades often revolve around Damian Lillard. But there was one other name that we constantly attached to the Sixers. And much like Dame, he was a guy who could be hard to tell what he actually wanted. Bradley Beal.
Beal has spent his entire career so far with the Washington Wizards. They have very rarely been good, despite him being a star-caliber player. In 7 straight seasons, he averaged over 20 points per game, and in two of those he was a 30-point-a-night guy. Yet, he has only made the playoffs 5 times in 10 seasons with the Wizards. There have been rumors he wanted out every season. But he never committed to asking out, and thus he has remained in Washington.
But now a big name in the NBA Media is stirring the pot again. Bill Simmons on his podcast is saying he thinks the Sixers are the odds-on favorite to land Bradley Beal this offseason.
“My odds on favorite is Philadelphia and I don’t even think it’s close. Beal and Embiid, they’re friends. Embiid was trying to get him two years ago, which I kept telling people on this podcast. They ended up going with Harden instead, Embiid was pushing hard for Beal.”
With James Harden likely on the way out, the Sixers do need to put a second star next to Embiid. Their options are limited though. Dame could be moved this offseason, but his eyes seem to be set on Miami. There are no true big-name free agents, and the Sixers don’t have the cap space to add any of them anyway. It will likely require some type of trade involving Tobias Harris to add a star and have the cap space to pay them.
And Beal could make sense. Tobias Harris’s contract is expiring. So that could be alluring to Washington. It lets them move the money, and have it off the books by the end of next year. It is clear they won’t be competing anytime soon. A full rebuild is probably what they need. The downside is other than Tobias Harris, the Sixers don’t have much to trade. They have already moved most of their tradable first-round picks. And other than Maxey, who they won’t trade for Beal, they don’t have many young players a rebuilding team would be interested in.
“If you’re Philly and you are going to lose Harden and now I have this shooter, that’s probably a better fit with Embiid anyway. And I have Tobias Harris on an expiring contract… And, if you’re Washington it’s like, you know what we got out of the Beal contract. We have Harris as an expiring and we’re re-booting everything.”
It is also important to remember the source here. bill Simmons has been an important figure in NBA Media, but that doesn’t mean he knows what he is talking about. Simmons is a podcaster, not a reporter. He may know people, but this does not feel like a situation where he has a source and is reporting something. Simmons just thinks a trade between the Sixers and Wizards would make sense. And he may be right about that.
Still don’t mistake this for something Woj or Shams said. It is something fun to think about though. Beal can still be a prolific scorer. And we saw in the playoffs the Sixers lack that. They don’t have a guy who can reliably pick up the scoring slack when Embiid is off. Maxey is great but has had problems with consistency, especially in the playoffs, Beal could give them a guy they know is capable of being a major scoring threat every night.
Simmons saying it doesn’t mean anything is actually happening. But it is at least something worth keeping an eye on.
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