MIAMI — Having previously been linked to Miami Heat interest, Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal again appears to be on the Miami Heat radar.
Or at least has the Heat on his radar.
With the Wizards revamping their front office recently and acknowledging the possibility of a roster reset, both ESPN and The Athletic reported Wednesday that the Wizards will consider potential offers for the former University of Florida guard who turns 30 on June 28.
With Beal holding a no-trade clause, any transaction would have to come with his approval.
Beal is due $46.7 million next season, with the Heat having the ability to aggregate contracts that match that figure in a dollar-for-dollar trade under the NBA salary cap, when considering the 2023-24 salaries of Kyle Lowry ($29.7 million), Tyler Herro ($27 million) and Duncan Robinson ($18.2 million).
The Heat also have the ability to include up to three first-round picks into such a trade.
Beal is represented by agent Mark Bartelstein, who has a long history of negotiations with the Heat.
With Beal, such a commitment would lock the Heat into considerable salaries going forward, with Beal also due $50.2 million in 2024-25, $53.7 million in 2025-26, with a player option for $57.1 million in 2026-27. Beal also holds a 15% trade kicker).
Beal averaged 23.2 points on a career-best .506 shooting this past season, but appeared in only 50 games.
During his season-wrapup comments Wednesday at Kaseya Center, coach Erik Spoelstra addressed his comfort of where the roster stands and appreciation of personnel decisions that also will need to be addressed in relatively short order after such a lengthy playoff run to within three victories of an NBA title.
“We’ll get there,” Spoelstra said, “and those discussions will happen, which will happen quicker this year, in the next 10 days, two weeks.
“I’ll be on the court, offering whatever insight they want.”
Spoelstra added that he did not believe the Heat’s roster was lacking, even in dropping the NBA Finals 4-1 to the Denver Nuggets.
“Right now, my mindset is that we had enough,” he said. “We could have found a way to win that title this year. We just didn’t get the job done and Denver beat us. That’s the pill that we’ll have to swallow and live with the rest of the time.
“But we had enough. It wasn’t our time; it was their time.”
Center Bam Adebayo said he appreciated the need for management to consider a bigger picture.
“The goal is to win a championship, and this organization will do anything possible to have it,” he said. “I feel like everybody in here knows it’s a business. And that’s why you cherish the moments you go through with your teammates, with your brothers, because you never know what can happen next year. You never know what can happen at the (trade) deadline.”
As for how the NBA goes from playoffs immediately into the personnel whirlwind, Robinson said it’s an accepted part of the business.
“It’s part of what comes with playing this late,” Robinson said, “so obviously it’s a good problem to have. I don’t even know if it’s necessarily a problem. But it’s a business that we’re a part of. I think right now, I don’t necessarily think anybody of this group right now is thinking of that stuff too seriously. I think right now everyone is just kind of coming down from a run and trying to take a little step back and have some perspective.
“But, yeah, it’s a business in a nutshell, and we’re all beneficiaries of the business and how it functions. So in that respect, it’s just kind of what’s required. But for me. personally, it’s not on my mind yet.”
