Let's Get Drastic: The Case for Bradley Beal to the Kings

In an offseason in which the Sacramento Kings have fully revamped their front office and coaching staff, nothing should be off the table. That even includes ideas so unrealistic that the only time they make sense are in the beginning days of the offseason when we have nothing but trade proposals and ideas to speculate about.

So, let's get wild and talk about the Kings trading for Bradley Beal.

Let me start this by saying I doubt this will happen, and even if it did, I don't think it's the best move or direction for Scott Perry and the Kings to go. But, if Sacramento truly wants to shake up their roster, it's hard to think of anything more drastic that they could pull off.

To begin, Beal has a no-trade clause that gives him total control on where he goes, meaning he would have to give the go-ahead for a trade to Sacramento. But Beal has been linked to the Kings in the past, so it's possible he would accept a trade to the Kings.

The other main talking point about Beal is his contract and health. He's owed $53.7 million next season and has a $57 million player option for the 2026-27 season that he's almost surely going to opt in to. That's no small chunk of change for any team, and makes sense why Beal has little to no trade value.

The Phoenix Suns reportedly don’t want Bradley Beal to return 😳, per @Gambo987

(h/t @UnderdogNBA ) pic.twitter.com/kurCrFXHNx
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 5, 2025

Regarding health, Beal is constantly dealing with injuries, with 53 games played the last two seasons, 50 in the 2022-23 season, and 40 in 2021-22. That's not a terrible amount for a role player or even a key member of the team, but when you're getting paid $50+ million, that's not going to cut it.

But when you take a step back and look at Bradley Beal, the basketball player, he can still put the ball in the basket.

Beal averaged 17.0 points, 3.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.1 steals on 49.7% shooting from the field and 38.6% from three last season. Looking deeper into his numbers, his shooting splits by area were also impressive, as he shot 73.7% in the restricted area, 54.3% in the floater area, and 42.1% from mid-range.

Simply put, Beal is still a highly effective three-level scorer. Defense will also be a question mark, but if you're bringing in Bradley Beal, I doubt championship contention is front of mind.

Logistically, the Kings could get a deal done by sending out either Domantas Sabonis or Zach LaVine straight up, giving both teams some options on which direction they would prefer to go. But the hard part of the deal is that the Suns don't have any (good) additional assets they can add to the deal. There's no way the Kings, or any team, is going to give up talent like Sabonis or LaVine without getting additional assets back in return.

But that will change if they trade Kevin Durant, which all indications are that they will. Even at 36 years old, Durant is sure to net the Suns a haul of assets in any deal. Whether it be picks or young players, they could then reroute those assets to the Kings in a follow-up move.

If the Kings were to go this route, they could choose to send out Sabonis and pair LaVine and Beal as a scoring duo. It's not ideal in terms of on-court production, but it would set Perry and the Kings up for an extremely interesting 2027 offseason.

Both Beal and LaVine are set to be free agents after the 2026-27 season. The two of them coming off the books would open up $106.1 million for the Kings, which would essentially be a clean reset for trades and free agency, allowing Perry to make any big move he would like.

That, combined with any assets the Kings could get along with Beal, would give Sacramento a chance to reshape their roster in ways that few other deals could. Is it an ideal move to make? Probably not. But is it a move that's at least worth thinking about? Also probably not. But amid the quiet part of the offseason, why the heck not.

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