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Bradley Beal spoke to reporters Thursday, soon after agreeing to ink a two-year, $72 million extension with the Washington Wizards that will allow him to be with the team through the 2022-23 season. The pact also has an opt-out clause for the second year of that deal, along with several other permutations, allowing him to hit the free-agent market right after his 10th year of NBA service and consequently qualifying him for a five-year, $266 million max deal with the team.
The All-Star guard spoke at length this afternoon, telling reporters why he chose to sign the extension right before the start of the season:
“We were talking with Tommy [Sheppard] the whole summer and just him keeping me informed about everything,” said Beal. “I just felt comfortable with where we were going. It was stagnant, it was cloudy for a minute. It was up in the air with the changes we made early in the year, but when everything settled we had an opportunity to talk to Ted [Leonsis] and he kind of projected the future and gave me a layout of what we can do in the future and it looked promising for me. It put me in a position to have a little bit of control in it as well.”
@RealDealBeal23 on his decision to sign a two-year extension with the @WashWizards: pic.twitter.com/nl9LpKsvzw
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) October 17, 2019
Beal signing a two-year extension instead of a three-year, $112 million initial offer puts him right in position to take the most lucrative deal as soon as he's eligible to do so. His extension will also keep him from signing for the supermax while allowing him to net perks like cash advances, a 15% trade kicker, and the freedom to earn as much as $9 million in trade bonuses if he honors the full length of his contract, should he be traded to another team during the course of the extension.
