Bradley Beal had a huge decision to make this past summer, as the Washington Wizards and new general manager Tommy Sheppard tendered a three-year extension offer sheet worth $111 million. As it turns out, the Wizards star consulted with fellow All-Star guard Damian Lillard, who had signed a four-year, $196 million supermax extension with the Portland Trail Blazers earlier in the summer.
The Wizards star detailed his free agency process in a recent sitdown interview:
“For one, I was taking my time,” Beal told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports as a guest of the Posted Up podcast. “I had all the way until October to make my decision, so I wasn't making any one that was going to be rash or illogical or emotional — because this summer was kind of rocky, we didn't have a GM for July, August… When I went into sign it, like yeah, the money is great, but you can get paid anywhere.”
Beal noted how players are now free to go anywhere and choose the team they'd like to end up with, but he sided with Lillard's school of thought that loyalty should remain a factor for a star player.
“I'm a little bit with Dame [Lillard] on this because I even talked to him a little bit over the summer and kind of just gauged where he was,” said Beal. “I talked to Ray Allen, I talked to a lot of guys who have kind of been in the same predicament. Like okay, what do you wanna do? Do you want to build on what you have or jump ship and see what you can do somewhere else? And when I was evaluating that, it's like the grass ain't always greener on the other side.”
Beal soon after signed a two-year, $72 million extension, allowing him to secure his near future with the team while also giving himself some flexibility in case things don't work out in Washington D.C.
The extension could set him up to become a free agent in the summer of 2022 if he opts out of the last year, allowing him to sign a new max deal.
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