Bradley Beal has an important financial decision to make, but the Wizards star insists that money won’t be the deciding factor, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic. The front office gave Beal a $111MM extension offer more than two months ago. He hasn’t signed it and hasn’t made a decision on whether he wants to remain in Washington long term. At Media Day, he told reporters that the chance to be on a contender will matter more than the size of the deal.
“I can really retire today and be OK. … So, I want everybody to understand, it’s not the money,” Beal said. “It’s not the money factor here. It’s me. It’s, OK, what’s the direction the team’s going in? Are we gonna win? Is this what we want? We know that this is probably gonna be a development year. It’s gonna be one of those types of years. So, does Bradley Beal wanna be a part of that ultimately? And that’s something I have to ask myself and something I’m probably still not done asking myself. So, I’m gonna use all my time until I can.”
October 21 is the deadline for Beal to accept the current deal, but turning it down won’t signal the end of his time with the Wizards. He will be eligible for a longer, more lucrative deal as a free agent in 2021, and an All-NBA nod would qualify him for a super-max contract that could reach up to $250MM over five years.
There’s more from D.C. on the first day of camp:
- A lot of contenders would like to find a way to add Beal this season, notes John Hollinger of The Athletic. The former Grizzlies executive writes that swapping newly signed D’Angelo Russell for Beal is a “dream scenario” for the Warriors. He mentions the Lakers, Raptors, Nuggets and Celtics as teams that would also be interested if Beal becomes available.
- Isaiah Thomas is trying to laugh off his latest injury, a torn ligament in his left thumb that will force him to miss the entire preseason, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. It’s the latest in a series of physical mishaps for Thomas since his last All-Star appearance in 2016/17. “I was in there laughing because I’m like: ‘Damn. It’s always something,’” Thomas said. “But at the end of the day, this won’t break me. I’ve been through way worse.”
- Rod Thorn, who has more than 40 years of experience as an NBA executive, will serve as a senior advisor to GM Tommy Sheppard, Buckner tweets.
- With John Wall possibly out for the entire season and a roster filled with young players, the Wizards are in a perfect position to tank, observes Sean Deveney of Heavy. “Keeping (Wall) out, trying to see if you can find a diamond in the rough by playing a bunch of non-guaranteed (contract) guys, that’s the way they have to go,” a rival executive said. “It’s tanking, but you can’t blame them.”
With John Wall out for the season, and the Wizards probably tanking this coming season, I think Beal will not only reject his extension offer, but he will ask to be traded to a contending team elsewhere.
The Celts could offer Hayward and their first round picks.
Agreed. Wizards have been posturing that there will be no letting him go, but once he doesn’t sign the extension by the end of the month as expected he won’t, the first domino falls.
If the team is tanking and without Beal they will likely need a rebuild I don’t think they would want Hayward.
The Nuggets would give them a better younger deal.
Gary Harris, Micheal Porter Jr, Jared Vanderbilt, a first round pick and 3 second rounders.
Well pistons can offer Drummond, Kennard, Doumbuya, and picks.
Drummond’s going to be a free agent and they already have Thomas Bryant. Kennard and Doumbouya are nice tho.
Admiral Schofield says, I’m calling the 3-spot. Meanwhile, fellow Vol SF Grant Williams will be buried on the Boston depth chart as they pursue the playoffs. He could wind up with WAS too…
After Bradley Beal gets traded, hopefully to the Nuggets for a really good package. Depending of John Walls fitness and Terry Roziers ability. Would a John Wall and Troy Brown Jr for Terry Rozier and Nic Batum deal makes sense.
The Wizards would have a young PG in Rozier, Garry Harris is a solid SG, Hachimura and Porter Jr likely share PF. At the 3 you have a Vet in Batum, and at the 5 you have Bryant.
Once Batums deal expires you have that and Mahnimis expiring deal to upgrade at the 3 and fill out the team.
On the other hand the Hornets get a good PG when fit in John Wall. He would be a leader in the same way Kemba was and it keeps MJ happy having a star there. They also get rid of Batums deal and get Brown Jr who is young and compete for SF minutes.
I just can’t see a team that would want to take on John Wall’s deal
Why the hell would the Wizards trade a 5x All Star for that trash?
That’s the thing tho, Charlotte might because they basically have nothing now.
They have a bunch of dub contracts for vets with bad production, they have Terry Rozier and his big deal and a bunch of promising young guys.
Maybe they take on John Wall who is from Charlotte, has career averages of 19/9/4 and would give the team a star like it had in Walker.
They also get rid of Batum and Rozier. Plus they pick up Troy Brown Jr and maybe a first aswell. Rozier in fairness is only 25 but in his best year he got 26 mins and averaged 11/3/5, hes not worth 19 mil. The Hornets would then have a young core of Monk, Bacon, Bridges, Browns Jr, Washington, Hernagomez and potentially get a Wizards first too.
The Wizards may think why would we give up our second best player and former all star but they get back Rozier who might develop well next to Beal. It keeps the Wizards competitive with CJ Miles, Davis Bertans and stuff there also. Plus instead of having Walls enormous deal on the books it has to pay Batum for 2 years and he could be a decent vet for young players like Bryant and Hachimura.
Dear everyone,
Beal doesn’t want to be traded. He loves DC. He’s simply holding out for a better Wizards offer next summer.
Will see, time will tell, no one but himself knows.
The Wizards offered him the best deal it can. The only way he gets a better deal is if he makes an all NBA team. For that to happen he either needs to but up extreme numbers in a bad team or the team needs to improve so he can get recognition. If he doesn’t make all nba teams he’s out…guarenteed
He will be fun to watch in a Warriors uniform with Steph, Klay, and Dray.