NBA Rumors: Bradley Beal To Nuggets For Gary Harris, PJ Dozier, Michael Porter Jr., And Two First-Round Picks
Since the 2020 offseason, the Washington Wizards have been telling everyone in the league that they have no intention of trading All-Star shooting guard Bradley Beal and undergoing a full-scale rebuild. However, despite swapping John Wall for Russell Westbrook last fall, the Wizards are still struggling to consistently win games, giving Beal’s potential suitors hope that he could be available on the trading block before the 2021 trade deadline. One of the teams that is closely monitoring Beal’s situation in Washington is the Denver Nuggets.
In a recent article, Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report included the Beal-to-Nuggets deal on his list of blockbuster trade ideas that could happen before the 2021 trade deadline. In the proposed scenario, the Nuggets would be sending a package that includes Gary Harris, PJ Dozier, Michael Porter Jr., a 2021 first-round pick, and a 2024 first-round pick to the Wizards in exchange for Beal. Trading a young and promising talent like MPJ would be a difficult decision for the Nuggets, but it would be worth it if it meant acquiring an All-Star caliber player like Beal.
Bailey believes that pairing him with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray would make Denver a more dangerous team on the offensive end of the floor this season.
“Beal is a 27-year-old wing coming off a season in which he averaged 30.5 points, 6.1 assists and 3.0 threes. In a winning environment, it’s hard to imagine those numbers representing anything other than a superstar. And that’s exactly the kind of environment he’d enjoy with the Nuggets. Beal could still create plenty of his own offense on that team, but he’d also have the luxury of many more open looks than he’s used to, courtesy of Nikola Jokic, the best passing big of all time. With Jamal Murray as his backcourt counterpart, opposing teams wouldn’t be able to focus as much perimeter defense on him, either.”
Beal is among the players that could dramatically change the Nuggets’ fate in the 2020-21 NBA season. From being an average playoff contender, his arrival in Denver could put them on the same level as this year’s title favorites like the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Brooklyn Nets. With his ability to excel in an off-ball capacity, he wouldn’t have a hard time building chemistry with ball-dominant superstars like Murray and Jokic.
Beal may remain committed to the Wizards, but at this point in his career, most people would definitely agree that he would be better off starting a new journey somewhere else instead of being stuck in mediocrity in Washington. Compared to the Wizards, teaming up with Jokic and Murray in Denver would give him a realistic chance of reaching the NBA Finals and winning his first championship ring this year.
