Mavs & Bradley Beal: Blockbuster Trade with Wizards Doable?

The Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards are no strangers when it comes to making big trades with each other. Hello, Bradley Beal?

It has almost become an annual tradition at DallasBasketball.com to speculate on the potential availability of Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal on the trade market. Every year, it seems as if the same cycle occurs: Beal has high hopes for the Wizards and says he wants to win a championship in Washington D.C. Then, his team severely underperforms and trade rumors surface. Then, he pushes back on trade rumors, reaffirming his desire to stay and win with the Wizards.

Could things finally be different this season, though?

The Wizards are spiraling, as they've lost 11 of their last 12 games and sit nearly three games outside the Eastern Conference play-in tournament range with an 11-18 record. The Dallas Mavericks have also underperformed this season, as they have a 14-14 record despite Luka Doncic playing at an MVP level.

If this is the year Beal finally has enough and demands a trade, the Mavs should try to do business with the Wizards yet again after swapping Kristaps Porzingis for Spencer Dinwiddie and Dāvis Bertans at last season's trade deadline. The Mavs are somewhat limited on draft capital that can be included in trades until the offseason, but here's a trade scenario that could at least be considered:

Mavs receive: Bradley Beal, Daniel Gafford

Wizards receive: Christian Wood, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dwight Powell, Jaden Hardy, two future first-round picks and two future first-round pick swaps

Obviously, the Wizards hanging up the phone quickly or not might depend on what they think of 20-year-old Jaden Hardy as a prospect. Hardy, like Beal, is an athletic 6-foot-4 shooting guard, and he's blown the doors off the G League with the Texas Legends. In 10 games, he's been the league's leading scorer at 30 points per game on shooting splits of 55.4 percent from the field, 48.9 percent from deep and 86.8 percent from the free-throw line.

When looking at those numbers and seeing the similar physical profiles Beal and Hardy have, some might wonder why the Mavs wouldn't just spend time investing in the rookie instead of the 10-year veteran who is 29 years old. But G League production and NBA production are two different animals. As good as Hardy has been, he's still raw and has a lot of growth to go through, whereas Beal is fully established and ready to help a contender win now.

There are likely other packages from other teams that would be more appealing to the Wizards than what the Mavs would have to offer. But if Washington decides to go into a full-blown rebuild, you never know what could happen. It should also be noted that Beal has a no-trade clause, so his input on where he'd like to be traded would hold a lot of weight when/if that time comes.

This particular scenario is an arguable pipe-dream for the Mavs, but its a fun one to think about. Beal creating a star-studded backcourt with Doncic in Dallas would likely light the Western Conference on fire. … making it worth the phone call.

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