nate33 wrote:If Beal and Ted did discuss money, I hope it wasn't for a 35% supermax extension. Beal is a reliable All Star, but he's not a Lebron/Durant/Giannis level superstar. Paying him 35% of the cap would make it impossible to build a championship roster around him.
If Beal does make the All NBA team, he would become eligible for a supermax extension this summer. But the extension doesn't have to be a full 35%. There's no reason it can't be less. The team could, for example, extend him a 30% extension for 4 years beyond the end of his current contract. That would earn him security for the next 6 years at a price higher than anyone else can pay. (Others could start him at 30%, but only give him 4.5% raises, which would slowly drop below the 30% threshold as the cap increases.)
Indeed, as compensation for extending him this level of security so early, maybe they could negotiate it down to, say, a 28% extension or something. Beal gets security while also keeping the team payroll flexible enough so that he can eventually join forces with a star.
I mean it's possible and I can understand the value of it, I just don't think it's probable.
(1) Beal just saw Wall drop his value pretty dramatically. This can work both ways. It might make him more predisposed to security but it also might make him more predisposed to trying to get as much money as he can without the certainty of another contract afterwards.
(2) Wall's max on the roster already cuts pretty heavily into any potential to sign another star alongside Beal. And if Wall didn't take a pay cut, why should Beal? The Wizards are essentially paying the tax for Wall. Helping the team avoid doing that with Beal isn't necessarily something I would expect him to be in favor of.
(3) Ernie doesn't appear to be going anywhere and I have 0 faith in his not throwing as much money in free agency at proven veterans as he possibly can. Can he give Beal a player option on the last year of that extension? If he can, you know he will give it to him.
(4) Beal (or his agent) already leaked that trade demand earlier in the season only to have Beal plausibly deny it right away. If the team comes in and starts to lowball him after they've always way overpaid everyone else they've ever spent money on, I can't imagine he's going to be a major fan of that play. Does he really want to give Ernie more money to go out and sign the next Ian?
