After the 2021 season, Allstar Bradley Beal was finishing a very impressive campaign. He had averaged 30 PPG, almost capturing the scoring title, and had announced loudly to the league that he was a legit star and surely one of the best guards in the NBA. He was around 28 years old. Unfortunately, the team around him was one of the worst in the NBA. While Westbrook had enjoyed a nice season with us, it was clear that his efforts were fruitless and we moved off his contract, ushering in the new era… or so we thought, as we kept Bradley Beal.
2 years later, Bradley Beal’s trade value, while still solid, plummeted. We got an old Chris Paul, which we turned into a 32 million dollar Jordan Poole. Before, we could have likely gotten a top-5 pick and maybe more! As a non-playoff team, we made a terrible mistake allowing our best player to peak on a losing team and overlook their value.
Fast forward to today, Kyle Kuzma is averaging 23.4 PPG (25th in the NBA), 6.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. He is also 28 years old. He is peaking and we are 3-15. Do not make that mistake again. We kept Wall too long. We kept Beal too long. Do not keep Kuzma too long; trade him in his prime.
At this moment, our young core consists of Bilal, Deni, and Kispert (though he is 24), we need more.
totally agree. i was encouraged by that ted interview a few weeks(?) ago where he seemed to acknowledge this mistake failing to sell high on beal. And Kuzma is certainly playing well enough now that contenders would want him.
My best guess is Atlanta, because they need to try to win something with Young and Murray, could use an upgrade at forward and have expendable salary (Clint Capela, Bogdanovic, maybe Deandre Hunter, etc.) they could send back. Though I think their top choice is Siakam.