Outlining the Spurs' Unlikely Path to Signing Bradley Beal

There are a lot of unpredictable paths the San Antonio Spurs can take toward improving their roster this offseason. One of the most unlikely yet still technically possible scenarios involves the pursuit of three-time NBA All-Star Bradley Beal.

Right off the bat, there's a lot working against such a union happening, such as his fit with the team (another shooting guard?), Beal turning 29 soon, and the financial requirements it would take. Still, you clicked on this for a reason, and we have to do our due diligence. After all, Beal is still one of the more talented free agents available this summer, even if he has a player option that could negate all of this.

Coming off his 10th season with the Washington Wizards, Beal is set to make $37.2 million if he opts into the final year of his deal. Considering his club has only been to the postseason in half of his seasons with them, it's not necessarily a given that he'll do that.

"The Wizards have expressed optimism that Beal will re-sign with the only team he's played for in his 10-year career," said a recent RealGM article. "In the past, Beal has said he wants to re-sign in Washington but recently said both sides know what's at stake this summer with building the team for the future."

What it could cost the Spurs to sign Bradley Beal

Including Beal in his list of marquee free agents, Project Spurs' Paul Garcia revealed on his Spurscast how much it would take to sign him to a max deal.

"If Beal were to decline his player option and become an unrestricted free agent, what would it take to sign a player like him? That would be $42.7 million," said Garcia. "That would require the Spurs not only letting all the free agents go and opening up that $37 million, but then they'd even have to make additional trades to get in that ballpark."

As Paul points out, that scenario looks very unrealistic -- and, well, it is. That scenario would have the Spurs moving on from Zach Collins, Tre Jones, Keita Bates-Diop, Jock Landale, Devontae Cacok, Joe Wieskamp, D.J. Stewart Jr, and Robert Woodard. They'd only have eight returning players plus their three draft picks and Beal.

Pursuing Beal isn't even worth it

In my recent article surveying Spurs fans about wish list scenarios for this summer, signing Bradley Beal was an option, and it predictably wasn't a very popular one. Fans voted it as 8th out of 10 possible options while the Air Alamo staff voted it 9th.

The amount of maneuvering on top of the financial burden of signing a star approaching 30 just isn't worth it when you look at the current franchise trajectory. Would he be able to put up points on the board? Of course, and he'd probably help the Spurs win a few more games in the short term. But he's not really the game-changing player San Antonio needs right now.

Beal might just be in a uniform that says something besides Wizards on it next season -- just don't expect it says Spurs either.