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New Orleans Pelicans: What would it take to get Bradley Beal? Is he worth it?

By Aaron Kellerstrass

Bradley Beal #3 of the Washington Wizards against the New Orleans Pelicans (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Bradley Beal #3 of the Washington Wizards against the New Orleans Pelicans (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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New Orleans Pelicans, Bradley Beal, Darius Miller
Bradley Beal #3 of the Washington Wizards shoots over Darius Miller #21 of the New Orleans Pelicans (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

The New Orleans Pelicans Should Not Trade for Bradley Beal

There are a number of reasons why a trade for Bradley Beal doesn’t make much sense for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Money

One of the arguments for trading Jrue Holiday is to save cap space for the inevitable Brandon Ingram, Lonzo and Zion Williamson extensions.

If the New Orleans Pelicans were to swap Holiday’s salary for Beal’s, they’d be taking on more guaranteed money, and Beal’s player option in 2022-23 is $37.2 million. He’ll be the same age as Holiday is now (29) and making a big chunk of the Pelicans’ cap.

Getting Beal for Holiday now would probably make extending Lonzo Ball exceedingly difficult, so would you rather have Ball and Holiday or Beal? I think that answer is clear.

If the Pelicans bit on the Lonzo package (HIGHLY UNLIKELY PLEASE DON’T TWEET ME) they’d be in a similar position, as they would have Holiday and Beal eating up nearly $55 million of the cap and rising. They’d have no Lonzo to extend, but would also be giving up their youth.

Would a Holiday/Beal pairing with a lesser bench be better than a Lonzo/Holiday pairing with a better bench? Tough question, but the money would be tight either way.

Defense

Both Lonzo and Holiday are plus-defenders, so giving up either one would hurt the Pelicans’ defense. Holiday has 1.8 Defensive Win Shares and Lonzo has 1.9, while Beal has just .5 DFS this season.

Beal would clearly be a downgrade on defense, so the question would be whether his offensive boost would be enough to offset it.

Holiday and Ball could be the best defensive backcourt in the NBA already, which is a big advantage in a league with so many great perimeter players.

Is Beal Even Better?

Beal has put up dynamic scoring numbers on a bad team, but is he actually even better than Holiday? Beal scores more, but also has considerably more usage at 34.4 percent to Holiday’s 24.7 and Lonzo’s 18.6 percent.

Beal has 5.1 Win Shares overall, while Holiday has 4.0 and Lonzo 2.6.  Would trading away assets really be worth it for an extra win?

Beal is a better scorer, but both Lonzo and Holiday are better defenders, rebounders and passers. If Beal is better, it isn’t by much and the combination of Holiday and Lonzo has proven to work, as they were developing a nice rapport before the suspension of play.

The New Orleans Pelicans don’t have a lot to gain by trading for Beal, but they’d be losing several valuable assets and possibly players.

But should they do it anyway?

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