Could Bradley Beal’s Next Chapter with the Clippers Ignite an Unbelievable Comeback?

The decidedly underwhelming final tally:Beal was a man on fire back then: a 23-year-old up-and-comer throwing haymakers alongside running buddy John Wall, seemingly poised for persistent postseason performance. His career — in Washington, first alongside Wall and then as the main man, and then during this misbegotten run in Phoenix — has unfolded differently. Now, he’ll get the chance to rewrite his story and rehabilitate his reputation; to prove he can, after all, be a contributor to a team of championship consequence.Running a pick-and-roll, working in the dribble handoff game, filling the lane or trailing the play in transition — Beal can still do all of those things at a good-or-better level, whether alongside a proper point guard like Harden (and maybe Chris Paul?) or shifted over into more of a shot-creating role with second-unit groups, and still has enough athleticism and quickness to acquit himself fairly well defensively in the backcourt. In a lower-usage, lower-responsibility role on a team with as much talent and as many options as the Clippers, it seems eminently possible his overall play and production might perk up.Advertisement

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AdvertisementAdvertisementAlso something, potentially? Bradley Beal, the basketball player, as he arrives in L.A. — not as a million man expected to round out a Big 3, but as a .3 million man stepping into the spot just vacated by Norman Powell on a Clippers team that won 50 games despite myriad injuries, pushed the Nuggets to the brink in Round 1 and looks to have gotten both bigger and deeper this summer.Advertisement