BOB YOUNGENTOB CSN WASHINGTON
Now that the initial free-agency hype has subsided, the Washington Wizards can focus on making Bradley Beal a very, very (very) rich 20-something shooting guard.
Set to enter his fourth NBA season, Beal is among the league’s most prominent extension candidates. His case isn’t as cut and dry as those of Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard, who were max-extension locks, but he’s a premier scorer, dangerous shooter and adequate defender at one of the league’s thinnest positions. He, in turn, is going to get paaaaaaaaaid.
And soon.
Per CSN Washington’s J. Michael (h/t ProBasketballTalk):
Now that the most of the heavy-lifting has been dealt with in free agency, the Wizards will begin serious talks with Bradley Beal regarding a contract extension, CSNwashington.com has confirmed with two people with knowledge of the situation.
Contacted early Sunday, agent Mark Bartelstein said actual negotiations with Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld will go forward as early as this upcoming week. “We had to get past that first nine or 10 days of free agency. With that chaotic period over, Ernie and I will talk and see where we are,” Bartelstein told CSN.
Beal is going into the final year of his rookie scale contract that pays him $4.7 million for 2015-16. The sides have until the start of the season to work out a deal and if they don’t talks will be tabled until next summer when Beal becomes a restricted free agent.
Michael also notes that the Wizards are inclined to take care of their own, as they did with John Wall just a couple summers ago. And after Wesley Matthews, who is working off an Achilles injury, commanded $70 million on the open market, Beal himself has to be seeing dollar signs.
But the Wizards are traveling a slippery slope by maxing out Beal now. Waiting until next summer, as the San Antonio Spurs did this past year with Kawhi Leonard, cheapens Beal’s cap hit, allowing the Wizards to go out and spend more money before going over the cap to retain him. That type of flexibility will be absolutely invaluable with the salary cap set to reach $89 million in 2016.
And it’s not like Beal can just leave if they don’t extend him now. The Wizards could match any offer sheet he receives next summer, so they still hold all the power.
It’s interesting, then, that they’re moving in the direction of ironing out a new deal for Beal soon. Kevin Durant is speeding toward free agency, and the preliminary returns have the Wizards as one of his most likely destinations should he leave the Oklahoma City Thunder. They should still have enough room to squeeze Durant in after extending Beal and accounting for Wall’s and Marcin Gortat’s contracts, but the waiting game affords them even more options.
Perhaps they’re more interested in security, though. The Dallas Mavericks were burned by DeAndre Jordan this summer, and the Wizards may not want to plan around players they don’t actually employ.
Even if those players are Kevin Durant.
