Bradley Beal Saying He Chose To Join The Clippers Because He "Needs A Ring" Leads You To Believe He Has No Idea They're A Cursed Franchise
When the Suns pulled off their trade for Bradley Beal, it was framed as a "win now" move in an effort to create a superteam in PHX around KD/Beal/Booker in hopes that it would bring an NBA championship to the Valley for the very first time. As a franchise, they've gotten close to the top of the mountain before, whether it was being 2 games away in the 2021 Finals (lost to Giannis), 2 games away in the 1993 Finals (lost to MJ's Bulls), or 2 games away in the 1976 Finals (lost to the Dave Cowens Celtics) but unfortunately, getting close doesn't mean shit. What matters is who wins, not who comes in 2nd place.
As we now know, the Suns' superteam experiment from 2023-2025 flopped, and frankly, it wasn't ever close to an NBA title. In Year 1, they lost to the Wolves in a clean sweep in the first round. Last year in Year 2, they didn't even make the playoffs. As it turns out, putting all your eggs in a Big 3 basket and having zero playable depth isn't exactly a winning formula in today's NBA. I commend their ownership group for taking the swing, but it was ultimately a gigantic swing and a miss.
From there, KD demanded a trade and is now a Houston Rocket. Given the Suns were hitting the reset button, there was no need for them to hold onto Bradley Beal, but due to his no-trade clause they couldn't just offload him anywhere, so they decided to buy him out. A pricey decision, but one they had to make given the circumstances. That allowed Beal to pick his next team (as long as they were under the 2nd apron due to his pre-bought out salary) and while I do think he could have fit on a number of teams, Beal pulled a surprising move and signed with the Clippers.
Why?
Allow him to tell you
OK, a few things here. For starters, the idea that Bradley Beal stinks now and is some sort of washed up player isn't exactly true. He can definitely still be an effective NBA player at 32 years old. He just put up 17/3/3 on 49/38% in his 53 appearances last year, and as long as he's healthy and on the floor, there's something still left in that tank. The issue was more around his salary. Bradley Beal at $50M+ is very different than Bradley Beal at just $5M, which is what the Clippers are paying him this season. That alone makes the signing worth it in my opinion, especially if this guy shows up
But the idea of choosing the Clippers because you need a ring?
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As we're seeing across the league, the contenders are getting younger and younger. You need to be super athletic, fast, and healthy to reach the top of the mountain in today's NBA, and I would argue the Clippers as constructed, are none of those things. In fact, they're the exact opposite. They're the oldest team in the NBA, in terms of health, you have giant question marks around Harden/Beal/Kawhi, and while someone like John Collins helps their athleticism, I wouldn't exactly say that about, say, Brook Lopez.
For years, the Clippers have always been considered "title contenders" on paper, and most of that is because of Kawhi. When he's on the floor, it obviously changes everything. But picking the team that has no idea how many games he'll play or if he'll be around for the playoffs while also having to deal with the playoff curses of both James Harden and CP3? If I'm a player looking for my first-ever title, I'm not sure I'm signing up for that. For all we know it was the best option Beal had, but going from one organization that's never won a title to another organization that's never won a title is a bit of wishful thinking.
Are we sure the Clippers are better than the Wolves or the Nuggets or the Rockets? We definitely know they aren't better than the defending Champs in OKC, and given the fact that even the bottom of the West is loaded, I would think if Beal wanted the best chance to even make the Finals, then he should have gone back to the East. At only $5M a year, I'm sure there could have been a spot for him somewhere on one of the teams projected to compete to get out of the East. Why not MIL or DET? I'd argue they both have a better chance of making the Finals than the Clippers do, simply because of the conference in which they play.
And hey, I wish Beal and the Clippers all the best. It'd be awesome if they finally got a fully healthy (for the most part) season, especially in the playoffs. There's also something to be said about first ballot HOFers in Harden/CP3 finally getting their elusive ring, and I'll always root for teams who have never won before to finally get over the hump, similar to OKC this past year. Part of me desperately wants to see what happens to Steve Ballmer if his team ever does win the NBA title, but I'm afraid we've all seen this movie before when it comes to the Clippers and their effort to finally claim a Larry.