One major question has loomed large over the Washington Wizards for the last few years: What is going to happen with Bradley Beal? While Beal has played his entire NBA career in the nation’s capital, his name has popped up in trade rumors for some time, as he hasn’t signed a long-term extension with the team and has expressed some frustration with how things have gone.
Despite that, Beal has always maintained that his preference is to stay with the Wizards. And on Thursday, we got our strongest indication yet that the 28-year-old Beal does not plan on going anywhere. Beal spoke with the media and was asked if it’s fair to say he’s leaning towards putting pen to paper on a max contract extension with the team this summer and said it is.
When Bradley Beal was asked just now if "it's fair" to say that he's leaning toward re-signing with the Wizards this offseason, Beal responded, "That's fair."
— Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) March 3, 2022
Beal has a player option for the 2022-23 season worth a little more than $36 million, but has the ability to decline it and become an unrestricted free agent. As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN noted, Beal has the ability to make a whole lot more money if he decides to go down this route.
Bradley Beal will be eligible to sign a 5-year, $246M deal with Washington, if he declines his player option on 2022-2023. https://t.co/W9VidgGA5y
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 3, 2022
For now, Beal will continue to watch his team try to make a push for the play-in tournament from the sidelines. The All-NBA guard underwent season-ending wrist surgery last month. Washington is 28-33 on the year, one game back of the Atlanta Hawks for the 10-seed in the Eastern Conference.
