Washington Wizards: Bradley Beal To Ink 5-Year, $130 Million Extension

The Washington Wizards took a necessary risk with their max extension for Bradley Beal.

The Washington Wizards knew they were going to have to overpay to re-sign restricted free agent Bradley Beal this summer. But with the NBA salary cap jumping to a projected $94 million next year (and possibly as high as $110 million the year after), not many people were prepared for the final figure.

As first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, the Wizards have agreed to pony up a five-year, $130 million extension for their oft-injured shooting guard. The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the figure at $128 million-plus with no player or team options, but either way, the end result is HOLY S**T THAT’S A LOT OF MONEY.

While DeMar DeRozan will remain the NBA’s highest-paid player (for now) after agreeing to a five-year, $139 million extension with the Toronto Raptors, Beal comes with none of the durability or reliability that DeRozan brings to the table.

Aside from the massive $26 million annual salary that comes with this extension, Beal is not coming off the most convincing of seasons. Last year, he averaged a career-high 17.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game on 44.9 percent shooting from the field and 38.7 percent shooting from three-point range.

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Those numbers aren’t terrible, but then you look at how many games Beal played — 55 — and the inherent concern with his humongous deal becomes apparent. Through his first four seasons in the NBA, Beal has played 56, 73, 63 and 55 games, respectively.

That’s a grand total of 81 missed games — almost an entire regular season of basketball!

Beal is an efficient sharpshooter, converting 39.7 percent of his three-pointers in his career. When he’s healthy he looks like one of the most promising young 2-guards in the league, and when that coincides with the postseason, Playoff Bradley Beal becomes an absolute delight to watch.

In 21 total playoff games split over two postseason runs to the second round, Beal averaged 21.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game on .414/.388/.815 shooting splits. Those are great numbers for any 23-year-old, and they’re only going to get better as he matures alongside backcourt mate John Wall.

But there’s no question that the Wizards missing the playoffs last year was due in large part to Bradley Beal’s nagging injury problems — a recurring theme that’s grown to be a source of frustration among the D.C. faithful.

While the Wizards were caught between a rock and a hard place with contract negotiations during the same summer that the salary cap leaps by a projected $24 million, there’s no question that this is a risky, albeit necessary move.

Because of how Beal’s cap hold will increase by nearly $8 million once he signs the extension, the Wizards will likely wait to officially ink him until after they have completed their other desired moves in free agency, sometime in mid or late July.

Beal also has clear areas for improvement aside from his obvious issues of just staying on the court. Though he’s an efficient long range shooter, Beal’s field goal percentage is consistently sabotaged by all the inefficient long twos he takes.

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His scoring numbers are slowly on the rise, but a career-high of 17.4 points per game in his fourth NBA season is not exactly a ringing endorsement for a player who does very little outside of shooting.

After watching Beal be the Wizards’ driving force in a few playoff series and affect the game in so many different ways on both ends of the floor, it’s been a pity to see him regress during the following regular season (both times), struggling to even make it through the 82-game grind.

However, we should also point out that even though the raw numbers look massive, they’re a tad inflated. Two years from now, Beal’s annual salary — about $26 million — will only take up 23.6 percent of the Wizard’s salary cap space. That’s equivalent to a $16.5 million contract under last year’s salary cap, which is not terrible for a promising young star.

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Bradley Beal is a necessary building block for this young Wizards team and when he’s healthy, the potential he brings to one of the league’s best backcourts is evident. The only question is, will he be able to finally make it through a full season without his body giving out on him?