On Monday, Trae Young signed a four-year, $212 million deal to give the Wizards an anchor that they can rely on for the foreseeable future at point guard.
BREAKING: Trae Young intends to sign a four-year, approximately $212 million deal to stay with the Washington Wizards, with a player option in Year 4, sources tell ESPN. The four-time NBA All-Star declined his $49M player option for a long-term commitment ahead of free agency. pic.twitter.com/BAGANqomo0
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 22, 2026
A lot of Wizards faithful look at this deal as another kind of anchor, though. One that has the potential to handicap the franchise going forward, similar to how former Wizards star Bradley Beal’s five-year, $251 million deal was when he signed in 2022.
I think this couldn’t be further from reality.
On top of the fact that this deal is for a year less, without a “no-trade” clause, the former four-time All-Star Trae Young is just a better player than Bradley Beal.
The Wizards have signed a higher-tier player in Trae Young
When Beal was at his best, he was as good a bucket-getter this side of Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry, and his scoring numbers, when then Wizards' general manager Tommy Sheppard gave the former All-NBA guard the supermax extension, showed that.
Finishing 2nd in scoring, only behind Curry, in the 2021 season, Beal was good for an easy 30+ points a night. Despite this, the Wizards just maxed out a much better player and leader in Trae.
Reaching the postseason three times in his career, Trae at times excelled in the role as the 1st option, peaking in his first postseason performance in 2021 when he became a Knicks villain by beating them and knocking off the 1st seeded 76ers en route to a conference finals appearance.
Trae certainly has his low moments, but the comparison falls apart as Beal has never reached those heights as a 1st option, nor as a 2nd next to John Wall, or as a 3rd banana with the failed experiment in Phoenix alongside Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
The team isn’t centered around Trae
$53 million annually for Trae is a lot of money, but this team is positioned to have whoever the Wizards take No.1 overall as the guy who they build everything around.
When the team gave Bradley Beal a rare no-trade clause in his supermax deal four years ago, that was an indication from the top to bottom in the organization that everything they planned on building was to be around the shooting guard.
That is not the case here. These Wizards for hopefully the next decade will be built around either AJ Dybansta or Darryn Peterson.
Now, Trae is a big part of that as his gift of being able to set his teammates up will be vital for the young guys on the team, but this contract is not handing him the keys to the franchise. It’s asking him to star in his role in making the No.1 pick and the players around him stars.
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