Karalis: Danny Ainge needs to keep an eye on Bradley Beal as he contemplates trade deadline moves

“St. Louis boys have to stick together.”

That line from Bradley Beal has to scare the hell out of Danny Ainge. 

Two years after Kyrie Irving went from “I’ll be back if you’ll have me” to ghosting the Boston Celtics, Ainge watched his young star, Jayson Tatum, head to an All-Star game and talk about teaming up with his closest friend. 

“I was excited,” Tatum said when he first learned that he and Beal would be on the same All-Star team. “That’s what I was hoping for all along. Everybody knows how close we are and the history we have, and it’s just a really special moment. Two guys from the same high school, same neighborhood, kind of grew up together, starting in the All-Star game from St. Louis, it don’t get no better than that.”

Said Beal after the game, “it was fun. It was fun, man. That's my brother. That's my brother forever. It was very unique and awesome to be able to share a floor with him, for us both to get going. Like I said before, we've never been on the same team. That in itself was a little honor. We were both ecstatic about it, and we were happy.”

This isn’t the same scenario as free agents Irving and Kevin Durant picking out a destination and teaming up. There wasn’t much anyone could do about that at that point. 

There is, however, something Ainge can do about this situation, though. 

The Celtics are obviously one of the biggest potential buyers in this trade market. The deadline is just two weeks away and the Celtics have both the contracts and a $28.5 million traded player exception to play with. If any one team is poised to make a splash, it’s Boston. 

However, a splash might not be what Ainge is truly after. 

There are good players available at this trade deadline, and a few that could certainly help the Celtics. But unless Ainge can find himself a true game-changer who will elevate these Celtics to contender status on par with the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, or Utah Jazz, he might just opt for a smaller deal to help nudge the current roster into making a little more sense in the short term. 

Sure, the luxury tax is one of the big reasons why Ainge won’t overplay his hand this month. Not resetting the repeater tax clock could be a colossal error that forces some unnecessarily tough contract decisions in the future. 

But keeping his options open for the bigger, splashier move in a season or two is also part of the long-term plan. 

Beal is very well known to be the next big NBA name potentially on the move. With Giannis Antetokounmpo locked up in Milwaukee, star-crossed GMs are turning their attention to other pursuits. Beal, despite being on the notoriously hapless Washington Wizards for his whole career, has resisted an outright trade demand, but that’s not stopping the wolves from circling this henhouse.

Beal’s loyalty is admirable, but we saw what might have been the first cracks in his armor earlier this season when he was very obviously frustrated during a bad Wizards stretch. If they go through another, or if their offseason goes poorly, it’s fair to ask where Beal’s breaking point might be. 

Beal is under contract for one more season before he can opt out. He’ll be 29 years old and, if he turns down $36.4 million, free to sign wherever he wants. Tatum will have two more guaranteed years left on his extension at that point. 

Does Ainge want to face the possibility of Tatum and Beal spending those years plotting where they get to play together, or does he want them spending that time having dinners together in the North End after Celtics games? 

Is a Tatum-Beal superteam a guarantee? Obviously not. There is so much that can happen between now and then that could make it impossible. And it would be an overly-specious argument to say Beal and Tatum plotting anything is guaranteed. We don’t even know that Beal will ever actually want to leave Washington. 

What we do know, though, is that playing on the same team for the first time in their lives was a thrill. We know they are about as close as any two guys are in the NBA. And we know that Beal has a decision to make fairly soon. 

Ainge holds a lot of cards and he could play some to win a few hands in the short term. But he also has to make sure he has enough chips in front of him to win the whole tournament. 

He knows he has the one thing no other team in the NBA has when it comes to attracting Beal: Jayson Tatum. What Ainge needs to do is make sure he has the assets to make that combination happen should Beal finally want out. Whether he makes five trades before March 25 or none, the moves not only have to help Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, and Marcus Smart as they try to win in the short term, they also have to keep that option open for the future. 

If Beal is open to Boston and Ainge doesn’t have the assets to get him, he runs the risk of getting Kyrie’d again down the road. You can bet Ainge has that in mind as he figures out what moves to make before the deadline.