Miami Heat emerge as destination for All-Star guard with summer rebuild looming

15 June 2023 , 15:59

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Bradley Beal and Jimmy Butler could be joining forces in Miami next season (Image: Getty Images)

The Miami Heat and the Milwaukee Bucks are two teams keen on Bradley Beal should the Washington Wizards decide to trade their franchise cornerstone.

The Boston Celtics are another franchise linked with the three-time All-Star, with Beal and Jayson Tatum both St. Louis natives and long-time friends. However, the Cs seem set to re-sign Jaylen Brown to a long-term contract. That would effectively rule them out of any move.

Beal, too, signed a five-year, $251 million maximum-salary extension less than 12 months ago. Despite doing that deal, parting ways with the Wizards organization could come this offseason.

One complicating factor is that Beal is the only player in the entire NBA with a no-trade clause. That, plus a 15 per cent trade bonus, was inserted into last year's extension.

The Athletic are reporting that the franchise's front office will work together with Beal to facilitate a move to a contending team should Washington begin a rebuild this offseason. No-trade clauses in the NBA allow players to block trades.

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The Wizards, who have missed the postseason in four of the last five seasons, are far from championship contention. Not reaching the playoffs in back-to-back years cost general manager and president Tommy Sheppard his job soon after the regular season finished.

Michael Winger replaced Sheppard as president and appointed Will Dawkins as the new general manager. A long-awaited rebuild in the DMV could now come, ending Beal's decade-long association with the organization that drafted him in 2012.

Bradley Beal has spent 11 seasons in Washington without reaching the Eastern Conference finals (AP)

Eastern Conference rivals Miami and Milwaukee appear the early frontrunners a week out from the NBA Draft, around which deals often occur. The Heat, fresh from reaching a second NBA Finals in four years, would likely add Beal to offset the offensive load on Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler.

Acquiring the one-time All-NBA selection would likely see Tyler Herro, who missed almost the entire postseason run with a broken hand, the centre of any trade. Miami also possesses multiple first-round picks they could include in any deal alongside the former Sixth Man of the Year.

South Beach is also a potential destination for the other multiple-time All-Star guard that may be moving soon; Damian Lillard. The player admitted as much earlier in June.

"Miami, obviously," he said when discussing potential trade destinations. "Miami is the obvious one, and Bam is my dog for real. Miami is the obvious one."

Beal would be an obvious alternative should Lillard stay. "I think I've made it clear what my wishes are," he told The Last Stand podcast. "I want to have the opportunity to win in Portland, and right now, we’ve got an opportunity asset-wise to build a team that can compete.

"That would be the number one thing, but if we can't do that, then obviously, like I've said for months now, then it's a separate conversation that we would have to have."

Matthew Abbott