Since entering the NBA hardwood as a 19-year-old, Bradley Beal has spent the entirety of his 11-year career with the Washington Wizards. While the “Real Deal” was always playing in the shadows of John Wall, he stepped up as the franchise’s star player after John Wall’s move to the Rockets. Following the 2021-2022 campaign, the Wizards offered Bradley a whopping 5-year, $251 million super-max contract extension in order to prevent a complete rebuild. Getting paid almost $50 million (on average) for the next 5 years, the 6-foot-4 guard instantly signed the deal.
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Since 1997, after the Washington Bullets changed to the Washington Wizards, the franchise has never come close to winning a championship. Many might even argue that the only significant moment in their organization’s history is Michael Jordan donning the Wizards jersey.
However, ever since the Wall-Beal era, the Washington-based franchise had made a few deep playoff runs. But they would always fall short, never advancing to the conference finals.
Over the last five seasons, the team has only advanced to the postseason once and finished 10th or worse in the remaining four campaigns.
NBA Reddit trolls Bradley Beal for ‘stealing’ $207 million from the Wizards
Despite providing Beal with a pretty lucrative deal, the Wizards have failed to clinch a playoff spot for the 2nd year in a row.
Reddit user @Mahomeboy001 brought it to light that the Wizards owe Beal roughly $207 million more over the next 4 years. Implying that paying Beal such an insane amount was a bad idea, the user joked about how the 3-time All-Star managed to pull off a “generational heist”.
Keep in mind, Beal’s contract also includes a no-trade clause and a trade kicker.
What does this mean?
Well, a no-trade clause grants a player the right to refuse any trade in which they are included. Only a player with 8 years of service and 4 seasons spent with the same franchise is eligible for a no-trade clause.
Furthermore, the organization even added a 15% trade kicker in Beal’s contract – a clause that will pay Beal a player bonus when he is about to get traded. Having the highest possible percentage allowed, if the Wizards were to trade Bradley, he would be eligible for a bonus worth 15% of the amount he is yet to receive.
Let’s say that the Wizards trade him this coming off-season. In this case, they will have to pay him roughly $31 million as a bonus.
With Beal being subjected to so much money over the next several years, the limited cap space will certainly play a huge role during the Wizards’ contract negotiations with Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma.
Beal’s stats over the years
Bradley Beal has been a reliable offensive maestro for the Washington Wizards. After averaging 30.5 PPG in the shortened 2019-2020 season, lodged 31.3 PPG the very next year to finish as the league’s 2nd highest scorer.
However, the last two seasons have not been particularly productive for the combo guard. Seeing an almost 8 PPG dip from the 2020-2021 campaign, the 1-time All-NBA player put up 23.2 points on a horrific 48/33.3/83.8 shooting split (all below career average).
Following yet another failure of a season, Beal is rumored to be on the trading block. Teams like the Sixers, the Celtics, and the Knicks are heavily favored to be the possible destination for the 29-year-old.
