Wizards-Suns Bradley Beal trade will benefit Raptors rival for years

The Toronto Raptors not only have the misfortune of playing in a very deep Atlantic division, as even teams like the Brooklyn Nets look deadly despite all their wheeling and dealing. Even though they weren’t involved in the Bradley Beal deal, they will reap the benefits of it.

The Washington Wizards agreed to send Beal to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for a package headlined by Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, and whatever second-round picks Phoenix has that aren’t nailed down.

Washington will assuredly get criticized for the relative lack of value in their return package, and some will make fun of the Suns for adding an ungodly expensive ball-dominant player with minimal defensive skills to be the third option and decimate their entire bench. The big winner of this trade might be…the Brooklyn Nets?

The Nets have one pick swap and four unprotected first-round picks from the Suns in the next seven years thanks to Kevin Durant, and the new CBA makes it even harder for owners to keep highly-priced cores together. The Raptors’ road through the Eastern Conference could get much harder in the next decade.

Toronto Raptors’ rival will benefit from Bradley Beal trade.

The Raptors’ road to contention is going to remain hard for the new few years. Nick Nurse and Joel Embiid will likely be able to create a few very promising seasons out of their partnership, the Knicks appear to have hit on something with Jalen Brunson, and the Celtics look like a sustainable winner.

The Nets won’t win a championship soon unless they acquire a superstar, but they now have the means to do that. With Damian Lillard on the market, the Trail Blazers could look at the picks Brooklyn owns from a Suns team that will likely be in for some hard times when this pairing is broken up and view them as valuable.

The Nets’ picks from Phoenix went from next to meaningless selections at the end of the first round to a bunch of mystery boxes that could end up gifting the Nets multiple lottery picks. Eventually, Phoenix will have to pay the piper, with Brooklyn being the beneficiary.

While some Raptors fans may have liked to see Beal go to Toronto, he didn’t appear to have them on the list of teams he was considering, thanks to his no-trade clause. This move makes Phoenix a contender for this season, but the Raptors may not like how Brooklyn will benefit in the long run.

The Nets could be an attractive destination for free agents, including a certain shorter point guard.