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NBA Trade Rumors: John Wall To Heat, Goran Dragic To Wizards

Published on: September 8, 2016 at 5:17 PM
By Adrian Lawhorn

NBA trade rumors are now centered around the Washington Wizards and their backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal. Now that Wall has admitted to having issues with Beal, NBA teams are descending upon the Wizards in an attempt to take advantage of the situation by acquiring one of Washington’s star guards on the cheap.

According to Sportsrageous , the Miami Heat are one of the teams who are working on a potential deal with Washington. The report states that the Heat are offering point guard Goran Dragic to the Wizards for NBA All-Star point guard John Wall. This trade scenario is legitimate in terms of NBA trade and salary cap constraints, but the bigger question concerns whether both of these teams would agree to a one-for-one swap of star point guards.

John Wall created some controversy recently by detailing his problems with Bradley Beal in an interview with CSN Mid-Atlantic . The report begins by discussing how Wall and Beal sat as far away from each other as possible at a Washington Wizards summer league game just after Beal signed his new $128 million contract to remain in Washington. John Wall then spoke of the issues that are causing a divide between him and Bradley Beal.

“I think a lot of times we have a tendency to dislike each other on the court. We got to be able to put that to the side. If you miss somebody on one play or don’t have something go right…as long as you come to each other and talk. If I start arguing with somebody I’m cool. I’m just playing basketball.

“Now that you have your money you got to go out there and improve your game. I want you to be an All-Star just as much as I’m an All-Star. If we were playing well as a tandem like the other two superstars that play together as a backcourt, play as a tandem, one night it’s going to be his night, one night it’s going to be mine, some nights it might be both of us. Those are nights it’s going to be tough to beat us.”

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Wall and Beal are not really friends away from the court, and they have had physical altercations that had to be broken up by teammates on more than one occasion. Wall has openly complained about not getting enough shots during certain games; games in which Beal took many more shots than Wall did. Based on the evidence, there seems to be a true and rather bitter power struggle going on between John Wall and Bradley Beal.

The reported fracture in the relationship between Wall and Beal appears to be very real. However, is this enough to lead the Wizards to jettison one of the star guards who they have built their team around? Due to signing a new contract this summer, Beal is not trade-eligible until December, so Washington cannot include him in a trade until that time. If the Wizards determine that Wall and Beal can’t coexist, then John Wall will be the one who is dealt if a trade happens before the 2016-17 season gets underway.

Goran Dragic is a very good player, but dealing John Wall for him would not bring equal value back to Washington. Wall is a special talent, and it is very unlikely that the Wizards would ship him out without receiving an elite talent in return. Miami could try to sweeten the offer by including another player and/or a future first-round draft choice, but it appears doubtful that team president Ernie Grunfeld would move Wall for this type of package.

The likelihood is that the Wizards will carefully monitor the team’s progress, as well as the progress of Wall and Beal’s relationship. If midseason arrives and things are going in the wrong direction, it is much more realistic that Washington will look to make a move to unload one of their star guards. At this point, however, the Wizards would not agree to trade John Wall for an inferior player — the team has plenty of time to see how this plays out; there is no need for them to panic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHY3t5S8CyQ&feature=player_detailpage

Current NBA trade rumors are pointing toward the Washington Wizards breaking up their backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal. The rift between Wall and Beal is real, but rumors that the team is willing to “sell low” on John Wall are not.

[Photo by Lynne Sladky/AP Images]

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