Our player preview series for the 2026 Clippers begins with Bradley Beal, the Clippers’ highest-profile offseason addition.
Basic Information
Height: 6’4
Weight: 207 pounds
Position: Shooting Guard
Age: 32
Years in NBA: 14
Regular Season Stats: 17.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.9 turnovers in 32.1 minutes per game across 53 games played (38 starts) on 49.7/38.6/80.3 shooting splits (5.0 3PA, 2.6 FTA) with 59.8% TS
Contract Status: Signed a 2 year, $11M deal this summer with a player option for 26-27
Expectations
The expectations are for Bradley Beal to be a key player on the 2026 Clippers, a team that is hoping to make a real playoff run. Most people expect Beal to start, though some would prefer he come off the bench to both give the bench more juice as well as balance the starting lineup with more defense. Regardless, Beal is expected to score for the Clippers somewhere in the high teens or low 20s, and probably serve as their third or fourth-leading scorer behind Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and maybe Ivica Zubac (or maybe Harden’s scoring takes a backseat and he moves to fourth in scoring). People hope that Beal will provide more of a balanced offensive punch compared to Norm Powell, with added passing and ballhandling making up for a deficit in straight up scoring.
Strengths
Beal’s biggest strength by far is his overall scoring package. While not nearly as dynamic as he was in his prime, when he averaged 30 points per game in consecutive seasons, Beal still averaged 17 points per game last year on excellent efficiency. He shot well from three in his two seasons in Phoenix after a few years of down three-point shooting, is money from midrange, and a good finisher around the rim. In short, while he doesn’t get to the line much anymore, he’s a very solid three-level scorer for a player who is no longer a star.
Beal’s other strengths are that he’s been a relatively well-rounded producer for much of his career. While his rebounds (3.3) and assists (3.7) in 2025 were the lowest they’ve been since the 2017 season, even those numbers are significantly higher than those of recent Clippers’ starters at shooting guard like Norm Powell and Amir Coffey. Beal is certainly not someone who is good enough to be a lead playmaker or ballhandler, but he’s competent enough to handle secondary actions and run pick and rolls when called upon. Even on nights when his shot is off, he will probably give the Clippers a bit more in other areas than their other scoring guards in the past few years.
Weaknesses
Beal’s biggest weakness is very simple: his availability. In the past six years, Beal has played in 53, 53, 50, 40, 60, and 57 games, and even with the earliest two seasons being COVID-shortened campaigns, that’s a lot of missed time. Beal has not really had truly serious injuries like a torn Achilles or ACL, but he gets banged up a lot and has just constantly been in and out of lineups over the past four years in particular. That lack of availability doesn’t just mean he’s not on the court, but it also damages rotation cohesion and on-court chemistry with other players. Even though he was decent his first year in Phoenix and had fine-enough production stats in his second year, his consistent inability to remain in the lineup for long stretches was a big reason those teams underperformed (among many other reasons, to be fair). Beal is already limited in camp due to a minor knee procedure he held in May, but hopefully that doesn’t linger too long.
Secondly, Beal’s defense has not been good for years. He was a decent defender for the first half of his career, and has the frame and strength to be competent at that end of the floor, but too often gets beat off the dribble or falls asleep off-ball. At least some of those issues are correctable, and the hope is that with Jeff Van Gundy in his ear and the Clippers’ culture of defense hopefully still carrying over from last year, Beal will be at least fine on that end this year. It’s certainly possible that he improves on that end compared to prior years, but defense has been a soft spot for some time now and there’s a good chance it remains that way this season.
Finally, I think there has to be at least some wariness at adding Beal from a locker room perspective. Despite the disastrous nature of his tenure with the Suns, there was never anything open about his clashing with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, or other Suns players, and he seems generally well-liked around the league. Suns reporters have told me that he was good to deal with in the media and seems like a solid guy. However, there’s no denying that his effort was bad most of last year, and even if there were reasons for that, that kind of poor effort can be contagious. I don’t anticipate this being an issue, but it does have to be mentioned. Along those lines, I think there are real arguments to be made that Beal should come off the bench for the Clippers, and he would probably not be very happy about that.
Summary
Bradley Beal is going to be an interesting bellwether for the Clippers this year. Not necessarily because he’s mission-critical on the court: I don’t think he will be. However, he’s a good litmus test for the overall team, as his biggest weaknesses – age, injury history, and potential locker-room drama – are the things that are most likely to plague the Clippers and prevent their season from being a success. I’m relatively high on Beal having a good season with the Clippers this year, but there’s also plenty of downside.
