Should Celtics trade for Beal? Kendrick Perkins makes the case

The Bradley Beal-to-Celtics rumors have returned for yet another NBA offseason.

On Wednesday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the Washington Wizards will work with Beal to find a trade if the franchise decides to undergo a rebuild in the near future. Given Beal’s well-documented friendship with C’s star and fellow St. Louis native Jayson Tatum, Boston once again came up as a potential destination for the three-time All-Star guard.

Kendrick Perkins added fuel to the fire on ESPN’s NBA Today. The former Celtics big man believes now is the time for Boston to get the deal done.

“Look around the league and what’s going on? The timing of the Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown, right? Coming up for a supermax,” Perkins said on Wednesday. “We don’t know if him and Jayson Tatum could get it done. We don’t know what could happen. But we do know this, that Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum has been the loudest secret ever as far as wanting to play with each other. They have been tied together like cooked spaghetti.

“So when I think about this situation, I think about Bradley Beal being 29 years old. He don’t have time for the Wizards to say give me a couple of years. We look at Jayson Tatum, he’s gonna say the right things, but do we know long-term he’s going to be a Celtic for life? It’s coming to a point where his contract is going to come up and he’s going to be looking at the Celtics and saying, ‘Hey, what else can we do?

“So I think with the relationship, the St. Louis ties they have, both of those guys wanting to be around each other and play with each other, this is the perfect time to make the move. If I’m the Celtics, I’m calling them ASAP and trying to get a deal done. If I’m Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum, I’m talking behind the scenes. Hell, they’ve been doing it for the past three years anyway.”

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Despite the obvious Tatum-Beal connection, Perkins and others riding the Beal-to-Boston hype train should pump the brakes. Our Chris Forsberg laid out a handful of reasons a trade is unlikely. Chief among them, the new NBA collective bargaining agreement will make it virtually impossible to have Tatum, Brown, and Beal on Boston’s books as early as next summer. Even if the Celtics do reach out, the Wizards likely would have little interest in anything Boston would offer to get near Beal’s $46.7 million salary.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst also poured cold water on the idea of the Celtics acquiring Beal, stating that the team’s “intention is to get Jaylen Brown done on a contract extension this year.”

While the C’s are expected to stand pat, two of their Eastern Conference rivals are expected to make a push for Beal. Charania believes the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks will “emerge as significant suitors” for him if the Wizards opt to reset their roster.