The Washington Wizards know they have something special in their young, dynamic backcourt. With John Wall locked down, the focus now turns to Bradley Beal, who is eligible for a contract extension as he heads into the final season of his rookie contract, according to CSN Washington.
The Wizards had a major gap to fill in free agency after Paul Pierce signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. They replaced him with a combination of Jared Dudley, Gary Neal, and Alan Anderson. While these guys are all solid role players, Beal and Wall are the two most important players on the team.
Right now extension talks are in the exploratory phase, CSN reported, meaning the Wizards are seeing how much money Beal deserves to get by comparing his numbers to guys who have recently gotten big contracts. It would behoove the Wizards to get Beal's deal done this offseason because afterwards the salary cap will go up. If the Wizards don't sign Beal to an extension now he will become a restricted free agent next offseason. In that case, he'd still likely stay in Washington but at a much higher cost.
The potential extension with Beal would likely have to be for the maximum amount when you consider that Wesley Matthews just received a max contract from the Dallas Mavericks (four years $70 million.) Matthews is a very good player, but he isn't Beal's caliber and is coming off a major injury, so Beal's agent, Mark Bartelstein, will easily be looking for a similar contract to Matthews.
Beal started last season on the bench due to and injury but when he came back he was exactly as good as you would expect. His scoring was down from 17.1 points to 15.3 points per game but his shooting percentages were up. Beal shot a career-high 43 percent from the field and career-high 41 percent from beyond the arc. Beal's defense has improved every season and he stepped up for the Wizards in the playoffs this past season. With Wall plagued by a fractured wrist, Beal was the team's go-to-guy and averaged 23.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game as the team lost in the second round to the Atlanta Hawks.
Beal is one of the rising stars in the NBA and, at age 22, the sky is the limit for the former University of Florida star. The Wizards appear to have the proper mindset to make Beal their main priority right now and a max extension seems like the most likely outcome by the end of this offseason.
