Should the New Orleans Pelicans trade for Bradley Beal?

Earlier this week, word broke that the Washington Wizards and Bradley Beal would work together to trade him if the team decided to transition into a rebuilding phase.

The reason the two parties would need to work together on the potential deal is that Beal’s contract has a full no-trade clause. This means that he can veto any trade that he is involved in. So, if the Wizards are going to trade Beal, it has to be to a team he’s interested in going to.

Let’s say for a second that one of those teams he’d be interested in playing for is the New Orleans Pelicans. Should they trade for Beal?

The big thing to note is that because of his no-trade clause, the remaining years/salary left on his deal, and his injury history, Beal’s contract is not viewed as being very valuable by executives around the league.

That is great news for the Pelicans because it means that they likely wouldn’t have to part ways with Brandon Ingram or Zion Williamson to make this deal work (unlike what they would probably have to do to land Scoot Henderson).

While we won’t get too deep into what the actual trade will look like itself from a salary standpoint, the Pelicans will probably have to package together CJ McCollum, Herbert Jones, Dyson Daniels, some assortment of picks, and salary filler to make the money work.

Beal is a clear upgrade over McCollum. On the season, he averaged 5.1 more points per 100 possessions, had a true shooting percentage that was 5.2 percentage points better, and averaged roughly the same number of assists per 100 possessions.

He was also in the 72nd percentile in rim frequency and 94th percentile in rim accuracy for his position last year (per Cleaning the Glass). That’s also a massive step up from McCollum, who was in the 19th and 40th percentile in those categories, respectively.

On top of that, he was in the 69th percentile in cutting efficiency last year (per NBA.com) and in the 67th percentile in wide-open 3-point percentage over the last three years (per thinkingbasketball.net). That shows his utility as an off-ball mover and spacer.

It is also worth mentioning that Beal is two years younger than McCollum. So, Beal is both younger and better than McCollum. And he provides aid in two of the three areas the Pelicans need help the most: shooting/spacing and rim pressure (the third area they need to address is rim protection).

The only drawback is the Pelicans would have to take on that monster contract and they would be losing draft capital and wing/forward depth if they let go of one (or both) of Jones/Daniels.

Still, the contract only goes until his age-33 season, he’s a perfect fit for this teams needs, he won’t cost you much by way of assets (at least relative to what it would normally cost to acquire a player of his caliber), and he can play alongside Williamson and Ingram.

If you ask me, the Pelicans shouldn’t be trying to trade for Henderson. They should be trying to trade for Bradley Beal.