Wizards Ready To Discuss John Wall, Bradley Beal Trade

[Jamaaliver]

Bradley Beal’s Newfound Greatness and the Wizards’ Familiar Predicament

Washington’s seventh-year guard is having the best season of his career. What does his brilliance mean for the future of the franchise?



Bradley Beal is playing the best basketball of his life. Look at the tape, and look at the numbers. The Wizards have lost five of their last six games and sit six and a half games out of the playoff picture at 31-45. But the team’s center of energy is clear. John Wall has not seen the court since late December and probably won’t play again until the tail end of the 2019-20 season. That’s left Beal in the driver’s seat, and by virtually any measure he’s thrived.

Washington’s current predicament all stems back to the supermax extension it gave Wall in the summer of 2017. Back then, high off the most promising playoff run that the franchise had made since the 1970s, the Wizards locked their point guard into a four-year, $169 million deal. Since then, injuries have limited him to 73 games across two seasons. And that massive extension? It doesn’t even kick in until October.

If Beal is named to an All-NBA team this season, he’ll be eligible for the supermax as well. A potential extension, which could be signed in the 2020 offseason, would run through 2024-25 and round out the 13th year of this Wizards era. If Washington offers Beal the supermax, it would quadruple down on this core years beyond its expiration date. While Beal is the only good thing the organization has going, who knows what the world will look like in 2025?

The Wizards haven’t tanked, though it’s unclear what they’ve gained from running comically and futilely from mathematical elimination. Washington’s lack of willingness to rebuild has cost it. The brightest part of this season, ironically, might cost it, too.

The Ringer