Bradley Beal? Great player. Terrific offensive player. Does the idea of seeing him and Jalen Brunson work a little magic together in the Knicks backcourt get the blood a-racin’ just a few days after the NBA officially closed up shop for the time being? Sure it does.
Should the Knicks make a play for him?
No, they should not. The Knicks are in a unique position right now. If there was one takeaway from the 2022-23 season, it ought to be this: as is, the Knicks are good enough to run it back and settle into a comfortable spot in the Eastern Conference middle class.
We know the Celtics and Bucks remain ahead of them, certainly if Boston retains Jaylen Brown and Milwaukee Khris Middleton. We know the Heat, by rights, are ahead of them until proven otherwise. The Sixers? If James Harden leaves, who knows? The Cavs? The Knicks aren’t likely to cower in fear.
Now, “a comfortable spot in the Eastern Conference middle class” isn’t exactly a winning marketing slogan. And next year we will hit a quarter-century since the Knicks’ last run to the Finals in 1999, meaning it’s been too damn long since those were the kind of aspirations and ambitions they sold out of Penn Plaza.
Still …
This is a place that allows the Knicks to remain selective. And patient. And whether you agree with all of Leon Rose’s tactics as he enters Year 4 running the show, he has been true to those values. He’s assembled a warehouse of assets. He’s drafted well, often lurking in the shadows and making value picks (Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, Deuce McBride).
He made a big score for Brunson. He passed on Donovan Mitchell, and while for most of last season that seemed a regrettable choice, by April he looked like the smartest kid in class. The consensus on the Knicks remains this: good core, solid base, and one alpha dog away from being anything other than a dark-horse pick to do something meaningful in May and June.
Beal is certainly paid like an alpha, with more than $200 million still owed him over the next four years. He plays like one — three-time all-star, 23 points per game last year, 50 percent shooting — when he’s able to play. He missed 32 games last year. He missed 42 the year before. He’s been in the league 11 years. In only three has he played more than 73 games.
The Wizards are eager to move him. Beal seems eager to move. Miami seems the preferred destination, and Beal’s greatest personal asset is a no-trade clause. If he were to set his sights on the Knicks, it would cost the Knicks less than the Mitchell deal would have because Washington has limited leverage thanks to the clause.
The Knicks should still say no. Maybe Beal brings a fresh element of fun to the Knicks, but he would also bring that career of fragility, and that contract, and a decided indifference to defense which would almost certainly cause friction eventually with Tom Thibodeau.
And if you commit to Beal, you are essentially saying no thank you to the other alphas — Paul George? Joel Embiid? Karl-Anthony Towns? Mitchell in free agency? Giannis Antetokounmpo? — who may or may not become available across the next few years because Beal’s contract will rob the Knicks of most of their true roster flexibility.
Of course, there’s no guarantee any of those names ever becomes truly obtainable. And there’s a chance that, even if it beats the two decades of disaster that preceded it, the Knicks’ comfortable spot in the Eastern Conference middle class could get old in a hurry.
All true.
But Rose showed he was willing to let things percolate and marinate rather than jumping after Mitchell, who would’ve been a better bet than Beal even with the added cost. He believed then that Something Better would be out there. You have to believe Something Better is defined by more than what Beal could bring. Fun as it might be to watch.