Kendrick Perkins Makes Case For Celtics Acquiring Bradley Beal

The Celtics face a potentially pivotal offseason, and there are growing voices for Boston to make drastic changes.

Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard reportedly have interested suitors, and Jaylen Brown can sign a supermax extension this offseason.

The Green have been linked to players like Chris Paul and Damian Lillard, but those acquisitions seem unlikely.

The Bradley Beal rumor mill has been reignited after ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday the Washington Wizards are working with the three-time All-Star on potential trades if the team decides to rebuild.

Beal has a no-trade clause with his supermax contract he signed last season, so a deal might not be imminent. The 2023 NBA Draft is next week and free agency will follow next month, and for a 2008 NBA champion, the Celtics must strike quickly.

“Woj said a very important word: ‘Timing.’ Look around the league and what’s going on, the timing of the Boston Celtics,” Kendrick Perkins said on “NBA Today” on Wednesday. “Jaylen Brown, coming up for a supermax. We don’t know if him and Jayson Tatum can get it done. We don’t know what can happen, but we do know this. Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum has been the loudest secret ever — for wanting to play with each other. They have been tied together like … cooked spaghetti.

“So when I think about this situation, I think about Bradley Beal being 29 years old. He don’t have time for the Wizards to say, ‘Give me a couple of years.’ Look at Jayson Tatum. Now, he’s going to say the right things, but do we know long-term if he’s going to be a Celtics for life? We’re coming up to a point where his contract is coming up, and he’s going to be looking at the Celtics and say, ‘What else can we do?’

“I think with the relationship, the St. Louis ties they have, both of those guys want to be around each other, play with each other. This is the perfect time to make the move. If I’m the Celtics, I’m calling them ASAP and trying to get a deal done. If I’m Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum, I’m talking behind the scenes. Hell, they’ve been doing it the past three years anyway.”

There isn’t a strong case to say Beal, who turns 30 on June 28, is better than Brown. A one-for-one trade simply seems like making a change for the sake of change.

But if things internally shift for the Celtics, where Brown wanted to leave or Tatum demanded to have Beal in Boston, then there would be a stronger case. However, there doesn’t seem to be any indication of that kind of turmoil.

The Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks reportedly will be suitors for Beal, and there even is an outside chance the Golden State Warriors go all-in for the All-NBA guard.