INGLEWOOD — Bradley Beal lined up alongside his new teammates for his Clippers debut on Friday night, but the feeling wasn’t new. The experience felt strangely familiar, not just the game, but the teammates.
“It’s weird. It feels like I’ve been here for a few years; I feel that comfortable with the group,” Beal said Monday. “They welcomed me in that way too and just made me feel at home and it’s been great, man.”
Beal’s comfort level with the Clippers is a dramatic change from his days with the Phoenix Suns. The Suns acquired the three-time All-Star in 2023, but the fit was never right and neither was his hefty $50.2 million salary during his second season, which hampered the Suns from moving forward.
All of that is behind him now. Beal has found his place in L.A.
The 6-foot-4 guard, who averaged 17 points per game last season, is a natural fit as a scorer and playmaker alongside Kawhi Leonard and James Harden and as a pick-and-roll partner for center Ivica Zubac. The four, along with either Derrick Jones Jr. or John Collins, will get their first opportunity to test their compatibility when the Clippers open the regular season on Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.
“Zu’s going to be excited because I think we have a good two-man going, so he’s excited about that opportunity,” said Beal, who nursed a right knee issue during the early portion of training camp.
“But I mean, just everybody, man. James is an unbelievable point guard, super unselfish, can still score the ball with the best of them, and Kawhi – we all know he’s a machine and the way he works and his production on the floor, so I’m happy to just uplift him any way I can.”
But it’s the Clippers’ twin big men – Brook Lopez (7-1) and Zubac (7-0) – who have Beal fired up for his 14th season. Their presence will allow the shooting guard to play without the offensive handcuffs that can accompany the role of having to carry the scoring load.
“I’m always adaptable, man … but I love to play freely, man,” Beal said. “I like to play off the ball. I like to cut, move without the ball. I can play with the ball and high, pick-and-roll, organize this, whatever the case may be.”
But there’s nothing like getting a big man involved, he said, because “they can get us open.”
Beal got a close up look at what this season could look like during Friday’s preseason finale against the Golden State Warriors, when Zubac repeatedly set screens that enabled him to find the basket. He scored 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 15 minutes.
“The screen Zu set the other night, man, I was like, ‘I can’t wait for this to happen,” Beal said, adding that he hasn’t had a screener like Zubac since he played with Marcin Gortat with the Washington Wizards in the 2010s.
Beal signed a two-year, $11 million deal with the Clippers after agreeing to a contract buyout with the Phoenix Suns this summer. He had been linked to the Clippers since rumors began that he and the Suns were looking to part ways.