The Washington Wizards were reportedly engaged in “serious talks” with the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns regarding shooting guard Bradley Beal before dealing him to the Suns for Chris Paul and Landry Shamet.
Regarding why the Heat didn’t pull the trade off, an NBA source told Steve Bulpett of Heavy Sports that there was concern about the “tax consequences with Beal” rather than any pursuit of a trade for the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard.
“It was out there that Miami decided not to bite on Beal because they were playing for (Portland’s Damian) Lillard,” Bulpett reported.
“It really wasn’t that; it was tax consequences with Beal that really caused them to back off. The new tax is much more onerous.”
The NBA and NBPA agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement in April, and it will include some serious penalties for the highest-spending teams. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski provided more information:
“The NBA is curbing the ability of the highest-spending teams, such as the Golden State Warriors and the LA Clippers, to continue running up salary and luxury tax spending while still maintaining mechanisms to add talent to the roster. The league is implementing a second salary cap apron — $17.5 million over the tax line — and those teams will lose several key team building mechanisms, including the taxpayer mid-level exception, utilizing cash in trades, moving first-round picks in drafts that are seven years away, signing free agent players in the buyout market and taking on more money than is being sent out in trades, sources said.”
The Heat do reportedly have a genuine interest in acquiring Lillard, as Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report wrote:
Chris Haynes @ChrisBHaynes
Miami’s focus is Portland superstar Damian Lillard with the genuine belief this could be the offseason the veteran guard seeks a change of scenery, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport.
Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic reported that Lillard would like to stay in Portland but that the ball is in the Blazers’ court to improve the roster.
Pat McAfee @PatMcAfeeShow
“Damian Lillard has left everything up to Portland..
He wants to be there and he wants that team to get better” ~ @ShamsCharania #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/HdQSvygjzI
It’s a wait-and-see game if the Heat make a big move or if Lillard’s Blazers career finally comes to an end, but we do know that Beal’s decade-plus in Washington is now over after the Suns deal.
Phoenix is going all in behind a big three of Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, with Deandre Ayton still manning the paint. The Suns are going to have a hard time building a roster around that core with so much money tied into that quartet, but it’s also possible the sheer star power is just too much for teams to compete with next season.
As for the Heat, they’re looking to improve upon a tremendous postseason run that saw the team become just the second No. 8 seed to make the NBA Finals.
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