Realistic Trades Post-NBA Lottery: Finding Homes for Bradley Beal and More

The pingpong balls are talking.

The NBA draft lottery results are in, and the celebration is on in the state of Florida after the Magic won the top pick. The Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, and Detroit Pistons are the top five.

Next comes a series of workouts, interviews and mock drafts. Now that franchises know where they will be picking and which selections are up for grabs, trade machines are about to start cranking.

We are here to contribute to the hypothetical wheeling and dealing with a quartet of trade ideas that grew more realistic after Tuesday's drawing.

Jerami Grant was given by the Portland Trail blazers.

Eric Bledsoe, Keon Johnson and the 7th pick of the Detroit Pistons.

The Trail blazers have not masked their desire for a rapid recovery since tanking through the second half of the season. They have not kept a lid on their interest in versatile swingman Jerami Grant, who B/R's Jake Fischer described as being at the top of their list.

It makes sense since they are building around Damian Lillard, who needs more support. The arrows should be aligned so that Portland and Detroit move up at the lottery.

The No. 7 pick is good, but not so good that the Blazers should not include it in a deal for Grant. The Pistons might be willing to accept that their rebuild could take some time without another blue-chipper coming to town. Expansion with the Nos. 5 and 7 picks should hold more appeal than keeping the 28-year-old Grant around and giving him a new deal between now and next summer.

Grant should have enough opportunities to find a scoring role for the Blazers because they desperately need a multi-dimensional player like him.

At the trade deadline, Detroit wanted two first-round picks or one first-round pick plus a high-upside young player. Keon Johnson is a 20-year-old with only one season and less than 700 career minutes under his belt. The Pistons are getting more than a first-round pick. It is the 7th overall selection.

Adding Eric Bledsoe as a money matcher could finally have enough legs to reach the league's transaction log.

Christian Wood and Eric Gordon were given by the New York Knicks.

Mitchell Robinson, Cam Reddish and Kemba Walker were traded to Houston.

TheBockers finished with a bottom 10 offense for the fourth year in a row. They need scoring and spacing in a bad way.

Christian Wood is one of the Association's most intriguing talents at center. There aren't many players with his combination of size, skill and athletic ability. Wood could be a real asset if he was able to avoid getting on Tom Thibodeau's bad side and leaned on the seasoned skipper to improve his defense.

There might be a bit of a minutes crunch with all of the frontcourt in the same game. The Knicks could form a three-headed scoring monster with Randle, Toppin and Wood, leaving Noel and Sims to do the dirty work on the interior in limited, high-energy spurts. If the Knicks re-signed Mitchell Robinson, they would have the same congestion.

The Knicks could be drawn to this deal because of its ability to expand beyond it. For the third consecutive season, Wood shot better than 37 percent. Eric Gordon hit 41.2 percent of his long-balls. The group would be given some breathing room by both of them.

With the third pick in the draft, Houston is in a position to draft a replacement for Wood. They could swap Wood for Mitchell Robinson and Cam Reddish. The Knicks would include Kemba Walker for salary-matching purposes, but the Rockets could buy him out immediately.

Robinson's above-the-rim play could be a counterpoint to Sengun's ground-bound wizardry. There should be enough time for those two and the No. 3 pick. Reddish is without a niche, but joining a long-term rebuilder like the Astros would give him more time to find it. There is an impact three-and-D swingman inside of him, if Houston can just bring that player out.

The Charlotte Hornets received Deandre Ayton.

The Phoenix Suns received P.J. Washington, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Mason Plumlee.

Deandre Ayton enters restricted free agency on an ominous note after only 17 minutes in the Phoenix Suns' Game 7 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Suns head coach Monty Williams told reporters that Ayton's limited usage was internal. The internal forces that drove Phoenix to reject Ayton's request for a max extension could be the same ones. Could they now send the center looking for a change of scenery?

It would take a team that wanted Ayton to incentivize the Suns to let him leave. Since Al Jefferson moved the Hornets to Buzz City, they have been desperate to find any signs of life at the center spot.

Ayton is everything the Hornets could want in a center. He can run pick-and-rolls with LaMelo Ball, motor in transition alongside Miles Bridges, make enough mid-range jumpers to keep the attack lanes open and shore up Charlotte's 22nd-ranked defense.

Ayton is only 23 years old, putting him on the same development path as Bridges and Ball, who could be a playoff core by next season.

The Suns might have reservations about committing so many resources to the center spot when they were only marginally worse with JaVale McGee.

This could be their escape chute if they don't want to pay Ayton. In a low-minute role, Mason Plumlee is fine. P.J. Washington can play the middle in small-ball sets or kick over to the 4 in bigger lineups. The Suns might have one of the Association's deepest wing rotations with the addition of Kelly Oubre Jr.

This could be the haul that convinces Phoenix to let Ayton go, if you want to keep or trade a late lottery pick.

Bradley Beal was received by Cleveland.

The Washington Wizards will receive a sign-and-trade, and a first-round pick.

It has never been easy to tell where the Wizards think they can find the co-star for Bradley Beal. They can probably cross the draft off the list. They were stuck in the 10 spot because of lottery luck.

Maybe it's time to end this relationship for good. You know, before the 28-year-old Beal and the Wizards, lottery participants for the third time in four years, do something they will live to regret, like committing to a five-year, $247 million max contract this summer.

If the Wizards are open to alternatives, the Cavaliers should be ready to pounce.

For all of the progress made in Cleveland this season, the club's 20th-ranked offense always put a cap on how high it could go. While player development could eventually prop up that number, an elite like Beal could take it to a whole new level.

He averaged more than 30 points per night in his last two healthy seasons. Imagine him leading an attack that will allow the others to trickle down into roles that fit their age and ability. A backcourt that can shoot, pass and create off the bounce looks bad on paper, but the Allen-Mobley tandem underneath could answer any questions.

If the Wizards ever accept that they don't have the personnel to compete for anything of substance with him, this could be the kind of offer that gets him out of the District. It has a current lottery pick, an unprotected future first and a pair of 25-and-under building blocks in a career 20-points-per-game scorer and a 7-footer who keeps making strides on defense.

Statistics are provided by NBA.com and Basketball Reference.

Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on social media.