Wizards All-Star guard Bradley Beal has settled to a contract extension for two years on a $72 million maximum deal, agent Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday. The deal incorporates a player option for the 2022-23 season and the total value could go up to four years and nearly $130 million.
As part of the extension, Beal has a 15 percent trade kicker and becomes ineligible to be traded this season.
Beal was drafted with the third overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft out of the University of Florida and has gotten the playoffs four times in his first seven seasons in the league. He's made back-to-back trips to the All-Star Game and has carried the load for the Wizards with John Wall sidelined with a ruptured Achilles. Last season he posted career highs in points (25.6), rebounds (5.5), assists (5.0) and (1.5) steals.
His new deal is one of the more interesting in recent league history.
Beal technically could have been leaving some money on the table. This deal is a typical maximum salary for a seven-to-nine year veteran: it starts at 30 percent of the salary cap. Had Beal waited a year and made an All-NBA Team, however, he could have made himself eligible for a Designated Veteran "supermax" deal starting at 35 percent of the cap.
Getting Beal signed now as different to one year down the line had absolutely enormous ramifications for the Wizards. Beal is a seven-year NBA veteran. A player needs to have eight years of experience, four of which having come with their current team, in order to be eligible for a no-trade clause. Beal, therefore, didn't get one here.
The Wizards have given every sign that they plan to keep and build around Beal.
