Now, at the very least, Frank believes the Clippers have what it takes to win a playoff series for the first time in five years. And at the very most, Frank believes the Clippers have a chance to do something special in 2026.

“Brad had a number of choices, and we feel blessed that we built an organization that’s now a destination organization,” Frank said Saturday, one day after officially signing Beal, a player the Clippers tried to acquire twice in the past.

“In the last 14 years, we’ve won the second-most games in the NBA,” Frank said. “Obviously, we haven’t won championships, which is always the goal. But one of the biggest things for Brad was the opportunity to win and to win big. And we feel very fortunate that he chose to be a Clipper.”

Beal has a player option in 2026. Among the 10 Clippers expected to have a role in the rotation, Collins will be a free agent, and five have player or team options that could make them free agents after the 2025-26 season: Beal, Lopez, James Harden, Bogdan Bogdanović and Nicolas Batum. Three more Clippers can be free agents in 2027: Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn. Only starting center Ivica Zubac, a 2028 free agent, is signed beyond 2027.

“We just wanted to put together the best roster we could while preserving the financial flexibility, which includes a path to max space if we choose to go that route,” Frank said Saturday.

The Suns couldn’t move Beal because of his no-trade clause. Now, he follows former Wizards teammates Wall and Westbrook in joining a Clippers team that has feasted on the buyout market in the 2020s.

“James spent over 30 minutes on the phone with (Beal’s agent) Mark Bartelstein,” Frank said Saturday. “There aren’t many players who, one, would be willing to do it; and two, who would spend the time talking to another agent to explain why the Clippers are the best place for Brad.”

“Not to take any sort of slight at Phoenix, but playing with James is a whole lot different than what their situation was,” Frank said Saturday. “Brad had great success playing with John Wall. He actually had great success playing with Russ.”

“Rod Thorn, who was my boss in New Jersey for 10 years, was with the Washington Wizards when Brad was there, and Rod said, ‘Brad Beal is one of the best two-way players in the game,’ when he was with him,” said Frank, who also referred to Beal as a “two-way player” in a statement provided by the team Friday.

“It’s like, we all have access to the same data, we have access to all the same games,” he added later. “But it’s also to see what’s inside a guy, what’s inside his heart, what’s inside his head. What does it look like in our defensive system? And so what I said is what I meant. I do think Brad’s a two-way player. Because I think he is capable of doing it. Even if you go back to their playoff series in his first year (in Phoenix), I mean, he was picking up Anthony Edwards full court. But I think with our defensive personnel and the different combinations that T. Lue has the ability to use, I think we’ll get the best out of Brad Beal. On both ends.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6504016/2025/07/19/clippers-counting-on-bradley-beal-bounce-back/

23 comments

  1. Is he saying it takes a special level of skill to be successful with Russ?

  2. I wish him well on the Clippers 

    Clippers biggest weakness will always be their health 

  3. Asking beal to be the point guard just because he can handle the ball well is the ultimate phoenix thing to do tbh but in clippers he can more so play like his actual role so there can’t be any more excuses from his side if he fails here too

  4. Not really a shot or anything. Harden is a better ball handler and passer than Book and KD.

  9. Say what you want, but this would’ve been an awesome team ten years ago (though still not good enough to knock off the Thunder).

  10. Lmao can’t wait to see these clowns STILL lose in the 1st round. They do this bullshit every summer. Clippers is the clippers

  12. Great success with Russ?

    Is finishing 34-38 and then getting clamped by Ben Simmons in his last good playoff performance , losing 4-1 in the first round, considered success?

    Edit:

    Russ Stans wanna downvote but can’t disprove anything I wanna say.

    Dude is trash. Still without a team, and about to be 7th team in 7 years.

  13. This article should result in a deserved nostalgia for John Wall. The Wall-Beal combination was fantastic. Wall’s superpower was to get separation, collapse the D and pass a player into an easy, open look. And with Gortat setting the best screens in the NBA it happened all game long, night after night. All those open looks yielded higher-than usual FG% that resulted multiple overpays. Wall was a unique player who should not be forgotten. The “Curious Case of Beal’s regression” is really about John Wall.

  14. this is true, it was a mess from the beginning when they had a Beal at home (Book). they are natural 2 guards, when Brad played PG at times for the Wiz or had to create his shot off the dribble it was really bad. and PG harden is a triple double machine

  17. The clippers wcf run was five years ago already? wtf I hate the passing of time

  23. Dude makes DeAndre Ayton look like a locked in Ironman who are we fking kidding

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