Raptors can't afford to let forgotten All-Star sign with another East contender

As the Toronto Raptors continue to wait for the Kawhi Leonard trade to be made official, the rest of the NBA hasn’t stopped moving. The Eastern Conference is set to be more competitive than it has been in a long time, with the only teams still clearly rebuilding being the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks.

This makes every move matter, and one name that the Raptors can’t afford to see sign with another team out East is former All-Star Bradley Beal.

The 2021 scoring title runner-up is still a free agent after declining his team option with the Clippers and has been linked to both the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat. Both teams were originally linked to Beal by NBA insider Jake Fischer, with the Heat coming up a second time after Heat reporter Anthony Chiang mentioned the two sides had been in contact.

I previously wrote about Beal's fit with Toronto, and while he hasn’t been linked to them at all, the Raptors have an open standard roster spot and need to start targeting him before he goes to a direct competitor.

Beal's days of being a 20-point-per-game scorer are far past him, but he’s still a quality scorer and shooter, and him signing with either Boston or Miami would make both teams just a little bit more legit.

The Raptors can't afford to let Beal sign elsewhere

This past season, Beal averaged 8.2 points and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 37.5 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from three in six games before having his season cut insanely short by injuries. Obviously, the sample is incredibly small, but he still showed he can be an effective floor spacer, which, for a team like the Celtics with Jayson Tatum or the Heat that just added Giannis Antetokounmpo, can provide value.

The Eastern Conference is going to be a bloodbath where one or two games could be the difference between being the seventh seed and the third seed. A few more made baskets could see the Raptors go from being a play-in team to having homecourt in round one. That’s where a player like Beal can really matter, not to mention the obvious plus of having another veteran voice that could provide for a team that is really young outside of Kawhi Leonard.

We just saw Sam Presti offer Spencer Jones a contract to force Denver to match and put themselves in cap hell; the Raptors signing Beal could have a similar impact on the Heat and Celtics. Particularly Miami, which still desperately needs more floor spacing, and Beal remains one of the top options in their price range to provide that boost.

As a GM, anytime you can make your team better and hurt teams you'll be jockeying for playoff position with, you do it. So while Bobby Webster's head is still likely clouded from the never-ending Kawhi trade saga, he needs to shake his head and make a push for Beal before a conference rival beats him to it.

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