Bradley Beal? Great player. Terrific offensive player. Does the thought of seeing him and Jalen Brunson work somewhat magic together within the Knicks backcourt get the blood a-racin’ just just a few days after the NBA officially closed up shop in the interim? Sure it does.
Should the Knicks make a play for him?
No, they shouldn’t. The Knicks are in a singular position right away. If there was one takeaway from the 2022-23 season, it must be this: as is, the Knicks are adequate to run it back and settle into a cushty spot within the Eastern Conference middle class.
We all know the Celtics and Bucks remain ahead of them, definitely if Boston retains Jaylen Brown and Milwaukee Khris Middleton. We all 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 prone to cower in fear.
Now, “a cushty spot within the Eastern Conference middle class” isn’t exactly a winning marketing slogan. And next 12 months we’ll hit a quarter-century because the Knicks’ last run to the Finals in 1999, meaning it’s been too rattling long since those were the form of aspirations and ambitions they sold out of Penn Plaza.
Still …
This can be a place that permits the Knicks to stay selective. And patient. And whether you agree with all of Leon Rose’s tactics as he enters Yr 4 running the show, he has been true to those values. He’s assembled a warehouse of assets. He’s drafted well, often lurking within the shadows and making value picks (Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, Deuce McBride).
He made an enormous rating for Brunson. He passed on Donovan Mitchell, and while for many of last season that seemed a regrettable selection, by April he looked like the neatest kid in school. The consensus on the Knicks stays this: good core, solid base, and one alpha dog away from being anything aside from a dark-horse pick to do something meaningful in May and June.
Beal is definitely paid like an alpha, with greater than $200 million still owed him over the following 4 years. He plays like one — three-time all-star, 23 points per game last 12 months, 50 percent shooting — when he’s in a position to play. He missed 32 games last 12 months. He missed 42 the 12 months before. He’s been within the league 11 years. In just three has he played greater than 73 games.
The Wizards are desirous to move him. Beal seems desirous to move. Miami seems the popular destination, and Beal’s biggest personal asset is a no-trade clause. If he were to set his sights on the Knicks, it might cost the Knicks lower than the Mitchell deal would have because Washington has limited leverage due to the clause.
The Knicks should still say no. Possibly Beal brings a fresh element of fun to the Knicks, but he would also bring that profession of fragility, and that contract, and a decided indifference to defense which might almost definitely cause friction eventually with Tom Thibodeau.
And if you happen to commit to Beal, you might be essentially saying no thanks to the opposite alphas — Paul George? Joel Embiid? Karl-Anthony Towns? Mitchell in free agency? Giannis Antetokounmpo? — who may or may not change into available across the following few years because Beal’s contract will rob the Knicks of most of their true roster flexibility.
In fact, there’s no guarantee any of those names ever becomes truly obtainable. And there’s a probability that, even when it beats the twenty years of disaster that preceded it, the Knicks’ comfortable spot within the Eastern Conference middle class could get old in a rush.
All true.
But Rose showed he was willing to let things percolate and marinate reasonably than jumping after Mitchell, who would’ve been a greater bet than Beal even with the added cost. He believed then that Something Higher can be on the market. You could have to imagine Something Higher is defined by greater than what Beal could bring. Fun because it is perhaps to observe.
