NY Knicks Offseason Trade Target #3 – Bradley Beal
Between the Knicks far surpassing their pre-season projections by ESPN and Coach Tom Thibodeau hating rookies…as much as I would like to see the Knicks continue to build through the draft, I doubt it happens now.
The Knicks have 5 first-round picks over the next 3 drafts, and as I mentioned…the coach hates playing rookies.
It would only make sense that they utilize these picks to acquire talented veterans that are ready to win now.
As many of you know, I’ve written extensively about the Knicks acquiring Bradley Beal.
The fact is, Julius Randle is great but is no better than a very solid 2nd option on a championship competing team, and the idea of waiting to see if RJ Barrett one day becomes a superior player to him will take the Knicks deep into Randle’s next contract with New York.
The time to capitalize is now.
Knicks executive World Wide Wes allegedly spoke with some that are close to Bradley Beal back in February, urging them to start seeking a trade to New York.
Looking back, no one, including myself should have imagined it would happen before the trade deadline because Beal is entering the final year of his most recent extension and would have all the leverage regarding where he ends up via trade if he waited until the contract was closer to expiring.
Beal does have a player option for the 2022-23 season but obviously, he can decline it and enter unrestricted free agency a year earlier.
I think that adding Beal’s scoring alongside Julius Randle and RJ Barrett would make for a very scary team to face night in and night out for the rest of the league.
With Beal here, plenty of ring-chasing free agents would be happy to come aboard at a team-friendly discount to fill out the roster.
We could all be celebrating a championship a lot sooner than people may think.