Bradley Beal - Part IV

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

It occurs to me this may have been a line in the sand for guys like Tim Connelly and his former front office mate Masai Ujiri. If the message from Ted was: we are loyal to our guys so do what you want except talk about trading Bradley Beal. Any savvy exec would see that as a situation where a player had more clout than Coach or GM, and reasonably decide the job wasn't for them. That and the idea that all of their decisions would be run past a committee, including Ted and Laurene Powell Jobs etc all the way down to the guy changing the urinal cakes. (Well I guess that is Ted too. Though I wish he would restrict his meddling to Urinal Cake Quality Control).

Leonsis is a more controlling and worse owner than Michael Jordan.

He's the dumbest owner after this move.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

This is contract is straight trolling. Need some Juwan Howard/Andray Baltche level booing to happen.

The booing might make it worthwhile, actually. Could be a good time - pay for cheap seats on stub hub, show up with a buddy or two, boo the crap out of Terd and Beal (Beal doesn't really deserve the boos but I would do it because it would bother Terd and I'm petty).

Give it a few months. Tepid applause will turn ugly if Beal struggles. I don't think Ted realizes or recognizes this either. He wasn't around for the Juwan Howard days when fans would make Juwan the butt of their frustrations. I don't think Ted/Shepp & Beal are prepared for what will happen if they get off to a typical Wizards start.

Gilbert and John were still beloved after their struggles because they actually lifted the team before their 2nd extensions. Juwan was straight garbage with that stupid fadeaway he always did. I don't blame Beal. It's our stupid owner. We're in the worst spot in the NBA with the exception of the Knicks. However, the Knicks at least have multiple future 1sts. We have nothing.

Beal is much closer to Juwan Howard=level in terms of talent than to the level Gilbert attained. Bradley is not as good as prime John Wall.

I bet Beal doesn't make the all star game more than one more time, if that.

[closg00]

The Wizards threw-in the kitchen sink into the contract terms, Brad gave NOTHING! Remember when the Wizards were in this situation with Gilbert? Ernie told him he could give him max-max, but that he wouldn't have money to sign players, Gil gave us a "discount". We didn't get sh*t from Brad, Ted/Tommy should be embarrassed by this humiliation.

[Endless Loop]

ay im out

real talk its been cool but i cant do this **** no more, team is abusive

Don't give up! We are already 1 day closer to this contract ending! Only 1825 days left!!

[queridiculo]

The Wizards threw-in the kitchen sink into the contract terms, Brad gave NOTHING! Remember when the Wizards were in this situation with Gilbert? Ernie told him he could give him max-max, but that he wouldn't have money to sign players, Gil gave us a "discount". We didn't get sh*t from Brad, Ted/Tommy should be embarrassed by this humiliation.

This was always the offer, there was never going to be any discount.

The blame Beal crowd really needs to calm down, this is all Ted's doing.

[miller31time]

The Wizards threw-in the kitchen sink into the contract terms, Brad gave NOTHING! Remember when the Wizards were in this situation with Gilbert? Ernie told him he could give him max-max, but that he wouldn't have money to sign players, Gil gave us a "discount". We didn't get sh*t from Brad, Ted/Tommy should be embarrassed by this humiliation.

This was always the offer, there was never going to be any discount.

The blame Beal crowd really needs to calm down, this is all Ted's doing.

I don’t know how anyone could possibly blame Beal - if I were him, I’d do the exact same thing. This is a business for the players and they should try to maximize their paycheck. Brad and his agent have performed their task beautifully.

But it’s also a business for the owner and GM and they’re….not performing their task. Which is the absolute nicest way I can characterize what they’ve done.

[nate33]

Yeah. This is trash. If he wants the most money and flexibility, then you keep the Option but no trade clause.
If you want to sell it as a loyalty play, then you give full no trade clause but also no PO.
To give him both makes us look even more desperate than we already are given his other options.
This doesn’t feel like a Tommy move, but a deal between Terd and Beals agent.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Exactly. Who the hell were they negotiating against? It just doesn't make any sense at all. It's pure incompetence.

I understand the perspective of Beal's camp in that they wanted the leverage to force a trade to a winning team, but if that's what he wants, he needs to sacrifice some money to gain that leverage. If the contract was $35M a year with a no trade clause and a trade kicker, then it would make sense. Beal would be sacrificing a little money to ensure that he is in a position to win.

But if he wanted a max deal, then he shouldn't get the leverage too. How can anyone be this bad at negotiation?

[daSwami]

Wiz fans have been left with no choice but to make Beal's life here so miserable that he requests a trade. I'm thinking about starting a Go Fund Me to buy court-side season tix with the sole purpose of trolling Brad and any Leonsis in earshot. Full Ficker-mode.

[nate33]

Give it a few months. Tepid applause will turn ugly if Beal struggles. I don't think Ted realizes or recognizes this either. He wasn't around for the Juwan Howard days when fans would make Juwan the butt of their frustrations. I don't think Ted/Shepp & Beal are prepared for what will happen if they get off to a typical Wizards start.

Good point. This is going to get ugly quick. And not just from the home town fans. The media is going to turn on Beal as well.

[nate33]

At this point, I hope we just trade Beal for Westbrook and a top 55 protected 2nd round pick. We've got to get him off this team. This dynamic of Beal having more power than the coach and GM is going to kill all team chemistry for the next 5 years.

Good veteran players like Porzingis are going to feel like Dinwiddie felt and soon ask out. Younger players are never going to feel like the Wizards are truly their team.

This type of dynamic can only work if the player in question is an undisputed MVP-caliber player. It has no chance of working with a player who is merely a borderline All-Star talent. The team simply won't win enough games to offset any locker room dissention.

[closg00]

The Wizards threw-in the kitchen sink into the contract terms, Brad gave NOTHING! Remember when the Wizards were in this situation with Gilbert? Ernie told him he could give him max-max, but that he wouldn't have money to sign players, Gil gave us a "discount". We didn't get sh*t from Brad, Ted/Tommy should be embarrassed by this humiliation.

This was always the offer, there was never going to be any discount.

The blame Beal crowd really needs to calm down, this is all Ted's doing.

What do you mean this was always the offer? You mean that the Wizards intended for Brad to be the ONLY player in the NBA with a true no trade clause?...because Brad is that kind of player above and beyond all other Super Max players?

[queridiculo]

The Wizards threw-in the kitchen sink into the contract terms, Brad gave NOTHING! Remember when the Wizards were in this situation with Gilbert? Ernie told him he could give him max-max, but that he wouldn't have money to sign players, Gil gave us a "discount". We didn't get sh*t from Brad, Ted/Tommy should be embarrassed by this humiliation.

This was always the offer, there was never going to be any discount.

The blame Beal crowd really needs to calm down, this is all Ted's doing.

What do you mean this was always the offer? You mean that the Wizards intended for Brad to be the ONLY player in the NBA with a true no trade clause?...because Brad is that kind of player above and beyond all other Super Max players?

That's precisely what I mean.

The organization made it abundantly clear that they would bring Beal back no matter what.

[WallToWall]

I do not fault Beal. If someone flashed all that $ in my face, and gave me all those favorable conditions, I would be silly not to take it. I fault TL for putting the team in this predicament. TL has made it clear that he isn’t building a championship contender. He is effectively running a Mom and Pop shop, and trying to keep his favorites extremely content, while other workers are gauged on a different standard. It is my sad realization, that a championship is not the goal of the owner, which I am coming to grips with now. So my expectations for this team, this organization, has changed…and I will act accordingly.

[TGW]

This is worst than anything Grunfeld ever done as GM. Like by far. This will handicap the Gizzards for at least the next half decade. And I don't want to hear that this was strictly Leonsis's decision. By all accounts, the flunkie GM is 100% on board with this, unless someone can show me otherwise.

[Rafael122]

I am obviously in the minority but if you look at the last 10-15 years, where star players want to be traded to their desired team, 99% of the time that player gets what he wants. He has years left on his contract, the player doesn't have a no trade clause and they still get what they want.

Carmelo - wanted to be traded to NY and NY only.

Paul George - asked out of Indiana, gets traded to OKC. Signs an extension with OKC, and asks out b/c he wanted to go to the Clippers. He SIGNED AN EXTENSION and still asked out and went to his desired team.

Anthony Davis - had 2 years on his contract? Basically told teams that if they traded for him, he wasn't staying long term b/c LA was his desired destination.

James Harden - literally got himself out of shape to the point where Houston had no choice but to trade him before his value tanked. Then wanted to be traded again to Philadelphia.

None of these players had a no trade clause. Does Brad deserve one? No. Were the Wizards fools for giving him one? Yes. But I ask, does it matter? He's just being up front, giving the team a list of teams he doesn't want to be traded to in the event a trade does happen. I don't think it matters since the players are going to go wherever they want to go. If he has 20 teams he would approve a trade to, you can still create a bidding war between those 20 teams.

[payitforward]

...most of the fun is being checked out and just making fun of this laughing stock of a franchise.

You know what's most amazing?

There are people here who don't think this franchise is a laughing stock.

There are people here who think Bradley Beal is actually worth the deal he just got.

There are people here who think Rui Hachimura was an outstanding draft pick & is a really promising young NBA player.

There are people here who think Kristaps Porzingis is an NBA star.

There are people here who think that coming out of an unbelievably deep draft like 2022 with a single player who might be pretty good is an example of successful team management.

There are people who think the Wizards' "problem" is that they keep having "bad luck."

Hard to believe, I know. But it's true all the same.

[nate33]

I am obviously in the minority but if you look at the last 10-15 years, where star players want to be traded to their desired team, 99% of the time that player gets what he wants. He has years left on his contract, the player doesn't have a no trade clause and they still get what they want.

Carmelo - wanted to be traded to NY and NY only.

Paul George - asked out of Indiana, gets traded to OKC. Signs an extension with OKC, and asks out b/c he wanted to go to the Clippers. He SIGNED AN EXTENSION and still asked out and went to his desired team.

Anthony Davis - had 2 years on his contract? Basically told teams that if they traded for him, he wasn't staying long term b/c LA was his desired destination.

James Harden - literally got himself out of shape to the point where Houston had no choice but to trade him before his value tanked. Then wanted to be traded again to Philadelphia.

None of these players had a no trade clause. Does Brad deserve one? No. Were the Wizards fools for giving him one? Yes. But I ask, does it matter? He's just being up front, giving the team a list of teams he doesn't want to be traded to in the event a trade does happen. I don't think it matters since the players are going to go wherever they want to go. If he has 20 teams he would approve a trade to, you can still create a bidding war between those 20 teams.

The difference is that those teams got compensation in those trades. The way Beal's contract is written, he can just designate the team he wants to go to, and thereby prevent a market for his services to develop. He'll just say "I want to join the Celtics" and the Celtics will be like: "Here's a protected 2nd rounder. Take it or leave it. We know you're going to take it because the alternative is an expensive, disgruntled player."

Although, to be honest, it probably doesn't matter. Beal, at this salary, probably has negative trade value anyhow.

[nate33]

This is worst than anything Grunfeld ever done as GM. Like by far. This will handicap the Gizzards for at least the next half decade. And I don't want to hear that this was strictly Leonsis's decision. By all accounts, the flunkie GM is 100% on board with this, unless someone can show me otherwise.

Clearly, Sheppard took the job knowing that he ranked below Beal in the pecking order. Ted has always said he wants to make Beal a Wizard for life, and two top tier candidates who interviewed for the GM job declined to take it for mysterious reasons, presumably because they lacked full control.

I suppose one can fault Sheppard for taking the job in the first place, but I don't fault him for any bad decisions regarding Beal because he is not the one making those decisions.

[Rafael122]

I am obviously in the minority but if you look at the last 10-15 years, where star players want to be traded to their desired team, 99% of the time that player gets what he wants. He has years left on his contract, the player doesn't have a no trade clause and they still get what they want.

Carmelo - wanted to be traded to NY and NY only.

Paul George - asked out of Indiana, gets traded to OKC. Signs an extension with OKC, and asks out b/c he wanted to go to the Clippers. He SIGNED AN EXTENSION and still asked out and went to his desired team.

Anthony Davis - had 2 years on his contract? Basically told teams that if they traded for him, he wasn't staying long term b/c LA was his desired destination.

James Harden - literally got himself out of shape to the point where Houston had no choice but to trade him before his value tanked. Then wanted to be traded again to Philadelphia.

None of these players had a no trade clause. Does Brad deserve one? No. Were the Wizards fools for giving him one? Yes. But I ask, does it matter? He's just being up front, giving the team a list of teams he doesn't want to be traded to in the event a trade does happen. I don't think it matters since the players are going to go wherever they want to go. If he has 20 teams he would approve a trade to, you can still create a bidding war between those 20 teams.

The difference is that those teams got compensation in those trades. The way Beal's contract is written, he can just designate the team he wants to go to, and thereby prevent a market for his services to develop. He'll just say "I want to join the Celtics" and the Celtics will be like: "Here's a protected 2nd rounder. Take it or leave it. We know you're going to take it because the alternative is an expensive, disgruntled player."

Although, to be honest, it probably doesn't matter. Beal, at this salary, probably has negative trade value anyhow.

The thing is we have no idea what his no trade clause is. Is it full one, is it partial, how many teams can he put on the list, etc.

IDK, I don't think it matters all that much in the grand scheme of things because players figure it out. The trade kicker is paid by Ted, so he's obviously OK with paying it in the event Beal does get traded. I think if there's 10-15 teams he wouldn't mind being traded to, there will still be a market.

[lastemp3ror]

I can't wait for Brad to be sick of the crowd booing him. For the media to start asking him tough questions about his performance. For the social media to roast him. He is going to have a very rough life here in DC going forward even with all of that money. And yes, I won't feel bad for him in the least bit. If you want to make max money, then you need to also take on the max blame when it comes. And there will be a lot of it.

I don't see him here beyond a year or two. We will probably need to do another Wall for Westbrook deal where we take on someone else's problem to get rid of ours.

See you guys when Leonsis sells the team. I am out.