Bradley Beal Ready for Fresh Start with Clippers After Being Overshadowed in Phoenix
Bradley Beal spent last season as the third option with the Phoenix Suns. Now he’s likely heading for a similar role with the Los Angeles Clippers, playing alongside stars Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.
But Clippers head coach Ty Lue thinks Beal has a lot more to offer than people realize.
“When you play for a team like Phoenix like he did the last couple of years, you got Booker and KD and you’re the third option,” Lue said during an appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast. “People like, ‘oh he didn’t.’ He averaged 18 points, shot 50% from the field and 43% from 3.”
Those are pretty impressive numbers for a player who wasn’t in the spotlight.
With the Clippers trading Norman Powell to Miami, Beal is set to take over as the starting shooting guard. It’s a change from his time in Phoenix, where he came off the bench in 15 games last season.
The 32-year-old veteran hasn’t been the most durable player lately. He hasn’t played at least 60 games since the shortened 2020-21 season during the COVID pandemic.
That year was actually Beal’s best. He put up a career-high 31.3 points per game, made his third All-Star team, and earned All-NBA Third Team honors.
More Than Just a Scorer
During his two seasons with the Suns, Beal averaged 17.6 points while shooting an efficient 50.5% from the field and 40.7% from three-point range.
“Those are unbelievable stats,” Lue pointed out. “But when you’re playing with KD and Book, it kind of gets overshadowed. I think by coming here, it’s a fresh start and I think he’s going to be great for us.”
The big concern is health. Beal missed 58 games with Phoenix, playing in just 106 out of a possible 164 games in a Suns uniform.
The Clippers are betting on Beal staying healthy and helping their veteran core.
“He’s definitely going to be big help for us offensively,” Lue said. “We’re going to need him to score, but outside of scoring, we’re going to need him to make plays for other guys.”
Beal has averaged 4.3 assists across his 801 career NBA regular-season games over 13 seasons. His best playmaking season came in 2021-22 with Washington, when he dished out a career-high 6.6 assists per game.
“He’s gonna draw two or three guys and he can make a pass, he can make a play,” Lue explained. “And then defensively, he’s always been good. But you gotta challenge him every night. If he’s on bad players, he’s not as good. But when he’s guarding a guy that can play, he’s a really good defender. We need his total all around package.”
Looking Toward the Future
Beal signed a two-year, $11 million deal with the Clippers this offseason after Phoenix bought out his previous contract using the waive-and-stretch provision.
That’s a huge pay cut from the five-year, $251 million deal he originally signed with Washington in 2022. According to Spotrac, Beal still had two years and $110 million remaining on that contract.
But this move might be about more than just the next two seasons.
“Brad did not want to go anywhere where he would be a one-year rental or he would go somewhere where they’re getting a massive talent grab for a year, try to help them win a championship and then move on to somewhere else,” Beal’s agent Mark Bartelstein told Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports.
“Brad doesn’t like change. It’s one of the reasons why he stayed in Washington so long. So the goal of this is to go to LA, have an awesome season, and then re-sign a long-term deal with the Clippers [next] summer.”
If things don’t work out for a multi-year extension, Beal could become one of the top players available in free agency next summer.
