It didn’t take long for the Washington Wizards and Bradley Beal to confirm their agreement on a new contract. Shortly after free agency kicked off, the Wizards announced they had a deal in place with their franchise player.
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) June 30, 2022
Inevitably, it’s a massive financial commitment by the Wizards for each of the next five seasons. After opting out of his player option, Bradley Beal was always eyeing this deal from the franchise he has spent his entire NBA career with.
The perks for Beal are obvious. Not only does he lock in the max amount of years possible on the new deal, but he also gets each of those five years at a salary north of $40 million. In the later years of the deal, it will be well north of that $40 million number. It’s a no-brainer from Bradley Beal’s side of things.
Where people seem to be taking issue with the deal is when looking at the Wizards decision to give out that contract. While there are always critics, many are simply acting like the Wizards should have just told Beal to walk and moved on themselves. It was never that simple, it never could be.
Wizards Win in Bradley Beal Supermax Agreement
The Wizards should view this moment as a positive for a number of reasons. First and foremost, they locked up one of their franchise greats. Additionally, re-signing Beal ensures Washington will retain their best player on the court. Remember, we haven’t seen Beal take the court a single time with Kristaps Porzingis yet.
The most underrated reason the Wizards came out of this as winners, though, relates back to the biggest news across the NBA as free agency got underway. Kevin Durant requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets, if you haven’t heard. So, what does that have to do with the Wizards committing to compensate Beal very well for the next five years?
Bradley Beal wants to be with the Wizards. His loyalty has likely cost him the pursuit of more promising situations on court, but Beal truly does want to figure out a way to win in Washington. In today’s NBA, that unwavering loyalty and pride to an organization and city is not easy to come by.
The Wizards understand they have a long way to go before being a serious threat. They also understand having Bradley Beal on the team makes them significantly closer to being a threat than any alternative in which he is not on the team.
A key in all of this is Beal’s willingness to remain in Washington. Yes, the Wizards need to figure things out, quickly. What they’ve already done is demonstrate to players and agents around the league that they will do what is needed to take care of their guys.
The work is far from over, but at this point, the Wizards and Bradley Beal himself are winners from the new contract agreement. What comes of that and how big of winners they are is going to be dependent on making the right moves from this point on.