Bradley Beal’s next move may not send him to Boston, and it may not even send him to Miami.
That matters for the Celtics, because Beal has long been tied to Jayson Tatum as a close friend, and his name has floated around the league as a possible buy-low swing after an injury-hit season. But the market around him has stayed strangely quiet, and the latest reporting suggests the Heat are not pushing hard.
The Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson reported that Miami did speak with Beal earlier, but the interest never turned serious. As they wrote, "The Heat had a preliminary discussion with the representation for free agent Bradley Beal but hasn’t pursued him vigorously," Ciang and Jackson wrote.
For Boston, that at least keeps one familiar headache from landing in South Beach. Miami has been a thorn for the Celtics for much of this decade, and if the post-Giannis trade chatter does lead to a renewed rivalry, the Celtics will want every edge they can find while that window is open.
Still, Miami is only part of the picture. Boston is staring at a crowded Eastern Conference landscape that includes New York, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. Beal could end up anywhere in that mix, and that’s where the real concern starts.
If he does land with one of those teams, the Celtics would have to deal with whatever is left in his game. There’s no clean answer there.
Beal’s All-Star peak is behind him, but he can still bring scoring and playmaking. What he has never really brought is defense, and that has never been a mystery.
Boston’s own approach may already be telling the story. The fact that Mike Conley Jr. was the choice over Beal could be a sign the Celtics believe Conley fits their plans better.
So even if Boston never seriously enters the Beal sweepstakes, the bigger issue is where he lands next. For a Celtics team trying to navigate a tougher East with Tatum at the center of it all, Beal doesn’t have to become a Celtic to matter. He just has to choose the wrong opponent.
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