Beal Secures The Bag; Agrees To 2-Year $72M Extension

Bradley Beal is staying in Washington, D.C., for now. 

The two-time all-star signed a two-year, $72 million dollar max extension on Thursday (October 17) according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

This deal keeps Beal out of free agency for three more years and alters the landscape for teams who were going to be aggressive in trading for the all-star guard.

Prior to the extension, Beal was entering his next to last year under contract with the Wizards. Given what other players around the league have done (see Anthony Davis), and the dysfunction in Washington, it was safe to assume the team would be open to moving him. 

However, since interim general manager Tommy Sheppard became the permanent general manager, things have started to change. 

Sheppard, team owner Ted Leonsis, Beal and his representation have had several meetings about the direction of the franchise. In those meetings, Sheppard and Leonsis outlined a new vision for the Wizards with Beal as the centerpiece surrounded by high-end talent and high-character guys. 

In short. No more dysfunction. 

The franchise has not won 50 games since the 1978-79 season. That’s 41 years. Yes, they’ve made the playoffs in between, but they have never been serious about championship contention. 

Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, spoke to ESPN about the process of Beal agreeing to extend his contract with the Wizards. 

“This was a long process that really covered the entire summer and fall, including numerous conversations and meetings among Ted, Tommy, myself and Brad. This was probably going to be the most important decision that Brad was going to make in his career, and we wanted to give Ted and Tommy every opportunity to present their vision for the franchise. And they’ve genuinely done a wonderful job of getting Brad excited about the future and how they plan to build the Wizards team around him. Brad has always made it clear to me, that in a perfect world, he would never leave Washington. He has felt an obligation to be the focal point in turning the Wizards into an elite team. He’s thrilled about all the resources that Ted is pouring into the franchise and thrilled how committed [Leonsis] and Tommy are to building something special.”

Now the Wizards need to follow through on what they’ve committed to Beal. His extension kicks in at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season. He has a player option for 2022-23. 

They have three years, more realistically two, before Beal could start to grow restless if things haven’t changed.