There’s no doubt about it — the most recent big three in Phoenix was an absolute disaster.
Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant’s two short seasons together yielded a whopping zero playoff wins. Even when all three stars were healthy, what was supposed to be one of the most high-powered offenses in the league couldn’t pass the eye test. The trio of scorers rarely ran a cohesive offense, more often resorting to a “your turn, my turn” brand of iso ball that left pessimistic Suns fans and basketball pundits alike feeling vindicated.
In any case, the Suns have more or less blown it up, with Durant headed to the Houston Rockets and Beal to the Intuit Dome right here in Los Angeles.
Clippers fans are worried about Beal’s fit within the squad, and not without reason, seeing as much of the blame for the Suns’ lack of success fell upon Beal’s inability to adjust his game and play more of a traditional point guard role. Not only that, the Clippers currently maintain one of the oldest rosters in basketball. Beal is 32, and notable names Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and Brook Lopez being 34, 36 and 37 years old, respectively.
As such, if Beal isn’t an instant fit, they won’t have much time to figure it out.
Regarding individual performance, a surface-level look would reveal that Beal is coming off of two of the worst statistical seasons of his career, with the 2023-2024 season being the former Wizard’s first year averaging under 20 points-per-game since 2015.
However, this downturn in production was more correlated with limited opportunities in an offense saturated with volume scorers than an actual recession in his abilities, as his shooting numbers (51.3% from the field, 43% from three, 60.7% true shooting in ‘23-’24) all stayed above his career average for both of his seasons in Phoenix.
As a result, I remain optimistic that if Head Coach Tyronn Lue can put Beal in the right positions, Beal can make meaningful contributions to a Clippers playoff run. The question is, what does that look like?
Clearly, Beal will never be anything close to a true point guard. Among players who played more than 20 minutes a game last season, Beal ranked 172nd in assist percentage. Luckily, the Clippers won’t need him to, with James Harden handling most of the workload, and an aging, but still serviceable 40-year-old Chris Paul backing him up.
Most online projections have Beal starting at shooting guard alongside Harden, Leonard, John Collins, and Ivica Zubac. In my mind, this lineup would result in a similar dynamic to those dysfunctional Suns teams, with Harden and Leonard dominating the ball and Beal reduced to an off-ball shooter with the occasional isolation.
What I believe would be more effective, is to have Beal come off the bench while plugging in a more defensive-minded option like Kendrick Nunn to shore up the backcourt. With a second unit that would likely consist of Chris Paul, Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, and Brooke Lopez, Beal could be given full agency to do what he’s best at — one-on-one shot-creation.
According to the advanced statistic database Basketball Index, Beal ranked in the 96th percentile in self-created shot making efficiency last season, compared to a much more lackluster 65th percentile in off-ball shot making efficiency. Furthermore, Beal ranked 94th percentile in one-on-one midrange pull-up efficiency and shot an excellent 73.68% at the rim, all proof that he’s among the elite isolation scorers in the league.
Beal is still dominant with the ball in his hands and an island to work with. It’s up to Lue and the coaching staff to give that to him.