NBA Rumors: Bradley Beal Unsure If He’ll Sign Supermax Extension With Wizards Next Summer
Washington Wizards superstar Bradley Beal continues to put together an impressive performance in the 2018-19 NBA season. In 81 games he played, the 25-year-old All-Star shooting guard is averaging 25.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.5 steals on 47.4 percent shooting from the field and 35.0 percent shooting from beyond the arc. With his incredible statistics, Beal has a strong case to be named to one of the All-NBA teams after the season.
Earning an All-NBA selection will make Bradley Beal eligible to sign a supermax extension with the Wizards next summer. However, in an interview with Fred Katz of The Athletic, Beal remains undecided if he will consider signing another extension with the Wizards. Before making a decision, Beal said that he first wants to know what direction the Wizards are planning to take.
“My biggest concern, just like I tell everybody else, is just making sure that we’re going in the right direction. It’s easy to secure money. Money is not the problem,” Beal said, as quoted by RealGM. “I already have one max contract, and I can live off that and be cool. So, money is not the problem.”
The Wizards have been facing lots of uncertainties since the start of the 2018-19 NBA season. After an altercation involving players and head coach Scott Brooks, rumors and speculations circulated, alleging that the Wizards made all the players on their roster available in trade discussions, including Bradley Beal and John Wall. Beal and Wall may be still in Washington, but the Wizards parted ways with some of their core players like Otto Porter Jr. and Kelly Oubre Jr. before the February NBA trade deadline.
After failing to secure a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference this season, the Wizards decided to fire Ernie Grunfeld as general manager and president of basketball operations. Bradley Beal may have already expressed his desire to finish his NBA career in Washington, but things could dramatically change once the Wizards choose to go in a different direction next summer.
“It’s, what are we gonna do here moving forward?” Beal said. “It starts with getting a new GM and building up our team this summer. I’ll definitely give it a lot of thought. It’s not an easy decision. It’s not a simple one, either. So, (it’s a) game of chess this summer.”
Bradley Beal on super-max possibilities: “I already have one max contract … money is not the problem”
Story here: https://t.co/7flzjaqEzm pic.twitter.com/O0OaiIFszk
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) April 8, 2019
Staying with the Wizards doesn’t make much sense for Bradley Beal if they decide to undergo a full-scale rebuild. Though he is only 25, the All-Star shooting guard will surely want to spend the following seasons playing for a legitimate playoff contender than being the centerpiece of the rebuilding process. However, since he is under contract until the 2020-21 NBA season, Beal will need to convince the Wizards to make him available on the trade market next summer.
