Assuming he reaches a buyout with the Suns – which appears to be a matter of when, not if – the Clippers are viewed as the frontrunners to sign Bradley Beal, league sources tell Law Murray, Dan Woike and Fred Katz of The Athletic.
Kurt Helin of NBC Sports previously reported that the Clippers were considered the favorites to land the three-time All-Star if he hits the open market.
According to The Athletic, Beal knows he likely won’t be able to immediately make back the money he gives up in a buyout — if the Suns want to use the stretch provision to spread his remaining salary across five seasons instead of two, he’ll have to forfeit a minimum of $13.8MM due to a CBA rule.
Murray, Woike, and Katz suggest the 32-year-old might sign a two-year deal with Los Angeles that includes a player option for 2026/27 so that he’d have the option of returning to the open market in a year.
The Clippers recently traded Norman Powell after reportedly being reluctant to offer him a long-term deal, and then waived Jordan Miller today. Both moves were viewed as precursors to signing Beal, with the trade of Powell opening up a spot on the depth chart while the release of Miller creates a little extra cap flexibility.
The Clippers used $8.75MM of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Brook Lopez, but still have about $5.35MM of MLE money left that they could offer Beal while still maintaining enough room below their first-apron hard cap to fill out the roster.
In addition to the Clippers, Beal has also been considering the Lakers, Warriors, and Bucks, league sources tell The Athletic. The Timberwolves have also been cited as a team with interest in the three-time All-Star, but The Athletic’s report doesn’t confirm that interest is being reciprocated.
Luke Adams contributed to this story.
Not worth it. Beal hasn’t been the same since the wizards days.
Shooting guards are going to break records going against Harden and Beal.
Imagine how terrible their D will be in like half the games where Kawhi doesn’t play….lol
Be about a 19.5 brick for 5 years if he’s required to give back 13.8
Savings this year of 33 M puts um 4 M below tax with 1 spot to fill
They could have 10 M to apron 1 and use some of it w Mle but Id just duck the tax at that point and get a min
38 Mill savings next year gets them only 30 M below apron 1 which only allows Mark Willams ext + some Mle cash (not even full) and vet mins to apron 1 :
OR 1 of the 2 above and duck tax again for 2nd year to totally get out of the repeater tax
Then 3 years of 19.5 bricks after
Just don’t see the on-court appeal here for Phx
Bricks? What lol
Is ‘land’ really the correct term in this instance?
A crash landing is still considered a landing, I suppose. Jeff Van Gundy is going to lose the rest of his hair trying to get Beal and Harden to play even a lick of defense.
Wait Jeff Van Gundy was allowed within 50
Miles of any kind of coaching job. Hate to be that team.
A 17ppg on 50/39/80 shooting while being forgotten on offense player? Yes please
perfect landing spot for overpaid disappointments
I can see the upside, gets to live in LA, on a contender, Kawhi will likely miss a bunch of games and he will have a license to put up a bunch of shots, Harden in recent years has become more of a pass first guy rather than a shooter so there would be a good role for him.
I just think the bucks would make a lot more sense for him. Playing in the easy east, covered by two great defenders in the paint in Giannas and Turner, the team needs a perimeter scorer, on a contender, would put up really good numbers and media/public perception would be less scrutinised on a team people are already writing off.
However Milwaukee is Los Angles and in terms of co stars maybe he feels better hanging with Harden and Kawhi rather than Giannas and Turner.
To not have to be the man and to cry for load management like Kawhi. Nothing he would love more!
He should sign with Milwaukee — perfect team for him to slot into
That sounds like a horrible fit… which sounds like the most Clipperish thing to do. They’re more interested in adding big names than building a team the right way. It’s all about the splash moves for the Clippers. They’ll never learn.
That’s why they’re the Clippers.
So they’ll keep Bogdan on the bench? He was at least decent on defense in limited minutes. Beal is a guy you hunt.
Uh congratulations I guess
I see that the Clips want Zubac, Lopez and Kawhi to work a lot more on D. Guys are gonna get past Harden, Beal and Collins pretty easily. We’ll have to see if they have enough gas in the tank come playoff time. Not really sure what they are thinking now.
Clippers owner is the most committed of all the teams. As a long term commitment it has to be Clippers. Bucks should also be trying their best to get him. Giannis needs him and Beal needs to resurrect his career. He can also fit with Warriors and their offense. Especially if they move Kuminga. I Just don’t see a long term commitment from Warriors.
I would like to see him in Milwaukee with Giannis. It’s probably going to be LA. With Lopez, Collins, and Beal …… haters .. this is a better team. Clippers were a playoff team last year. They were 51–31 and 4th seed in the West …. Live to hate.
I guess I will never understand it ….. Beal to LA ……
It still blows my my mind that Bradley Beal without injury has become unrosterable on his current team, untrable yet still be coveted by every playoff team. It’s like Russ all over again. Although, I understand Russ a little due to his playstyle but, Beal is just weird. I’ve said before that Beal fits almost any team as a super 3 and d guy. Now he doesn’t play defense and forgot how to shoot.
Who said he was coveted by every playoff team?
And who the hell ever considered Beal to be a 3 and D guy lol
Tbh, The negative connotation associated with Beal isn’t 100% fair or accurate. The Suns did a great job of creating a smear campaign in the attempt of having him waive his no trade clause. He was also in a terrible situation on the Wizards and on the Suns. Wizards were trying to tank and the Suns tried fitting a square in a round hole and had no legitimate offensive system.
Bradley Beal is a very solid player and could be a great 4th or possibly 3rd option if he’s highly motivated. But he might’ve just built terrible habits on the Wizards and be too far gone to play meaningful basketball.
He’d be a great 10th or 11th garbage time player where defense doesn’t matter.
Lol agree to disagree. He hasn’t had to play motivated basketball since John Wall left the Wizards. He’d be a great fit on Mil and would definitely change the narrative he’s currently associated with. In LA it would probably be more of the same because there is no accountability on that team.
No interest in Beal by the Timberpuppies.
They are negotiating to bring back JONNY FLYNN !!
And sczerbiak
The points he lets in will offset any offence he creates… never liked Beal and think he’s a bad fit. At least Westbrook plays SOME defence
Better off with the gritty defense and ball handling of Kris Dunn again.
it’s crazy how many people here don’t understand Beal.
It’s rather simple:
At $53M per, he’s not worth it.
At $8.7M per, he’s a steal
Teams will line up to take him for the mid-level exemption