Lakers Rumored to Think 76ers Rival Bradley Beal Will Want Trade

Will Bradley Beal remain a 76ers' division rival? The Los Angeles Lakers hope that's not the case.

Washington Wizards star guard Bradley Beal has shown plenty of loyalty to the franchise that drafted him out of the Florida third-overall in 2012.

Through ten seasons, Beal stuck with the Wizards, despite a lack of postseason success. While many assumed Beal would be on his way out either via trade during last season or free agency, the star guard picked up a max deal of over $250 million for the next five years with the Wizards.

Beal’s contract includes a no-trade clause, but as we’ve learned through multiple sports, a no-trade clause can be waived if the situation is right.

Right now, there is no indication from Beal that he would be willing to waive his clause anytime soon, but Sports Illustrated’s own NBA Insider duo of Howard Beck and Chris Mannix recently mentioned there are rumors among NBA personnel suggesting that Beal “wants to come to California” on the Crossover NBA Show.  

Therefore, the Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly holding out hope that’s the case because they’ll be one of the first teams to try and strike a deal to make it happen.

”So here was the quote from the Western Conference executive I spoke to who had mentioned this,” Beck said. “He says, ‘Washington is the one that I keep thinking that’s going to happen. … [Bradley Beal] got a no-trade clause, he wants to come to California’ — That was an interesting tidbit of this — ‘He essentially can pick where he wants to go (because of his no-trade clause)’ … So that’s the logic that the Western Conference exec was laying out to me, and he said this: ‘Whatever you want to say about Pelinka, he’s being smart, he’s taking his time.’” [via ClutchPoints] 

With Beal, the Wizards are 4-5 this season. After the star guard suffered an injury ahead of Washington’s tenth matchup, Washington found success as they’ve won four of their last five games prior to Wednesday night's matchup. With Washington improving to 8-6 in the absence of Beal, they’ll look forward to getting the multi-time All-Star back in the mix when he’s healthy again.

Since the Wizards are doing better than most expected right now, there’s little chance that Beal is going to force Washington’s hand to move him. Therefore, it seems unlikely Beal is leaving the Atlantic Division anytime soon, and he'll continue to be a rival of the Philadelphia 76ers unless drastic changes take place.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.