Bradley Beal not a lock to stay with Wizards

I can’t find a team out there these days that believes Morey is bluffing about keeping Simmons past the deadline to A) first make what sounds to outsiders as a rather hopeless attempt to convince Simmons to rejoin the team for a playoff drive and B) more importantly retain Simmons to offer him as the centerpiece of offseason trade pitches for the likes of Portland’s Damian Lillard, Washington’s Bradley Beal, Boston’s Jaylen Brown and, of course, Brooklyn’s James Harden -via marcstein.substack.com / January 28, 2022

I haven’t heard anything regarding Beal as far as putting feelers out kind of testing the waters with him. I just think what I’ve heard is that, you know, basically everyone’s available in Washington if there’s something that can upgrade this roster -via Spotify / January 28, 2022

But will the recent downturn prompt Beal to question whether he wants to remain? “I have a lot of conversations with Tommy,” Beal said Tuesday night. “We’re very transparent with what we want to do and what my future looks like. And yeah, the (trade) deadline is coming up, and I’m very well aware of how we’re playing and how other teams are playing and what my interests are. Granted, I’m giving this organization an opportunity to prove that and show that, and obviously I’m a big factor in that, too, in producing and playing well and performing. But I want to win, and we all know that. It’s just a matter of us doing it. We’ve got the pieces, we have the assets, we’ve got the depth — everything that we bragged about at the beginning of the year. Now let’s put it together and make it work. Speculations are going to be what they are. I can’t control that. But I know what comes out of my mouth, and I know where my heart is, and everyone will know.” -via The Athletic / January 26, 2022