NBA Rumors: Bradley Beal sounds like a man that’s ready to test free agency.
For the majority of the past few seasons, the idea of acquiring Bradley Beal away from the Washington Wizards was always more of a pipe dream than something that could actually come to fruition in reality.
Nevertheless, after stalling on signing a long-term extension with the Wizards this past offseason and with his most recent comments, Beal sounds like a man that’s ready to take his future into his own hands and that could quite possibly mean testing free agency for the first time in his career.
Beal has a player option for next season, meaning that he could opt out of his final season with the Wizards and be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Considering that’s certainly a strong possibility, it’s no surprise that the Wizards tried to make the big splash by acquiring Spencer Dinwiddie, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Kyle Kuzma.
While it seemed as if those moves were working to start the season, the Wizards have begun to fall back to earth as of late. The Wizards are 4-8 in their last 12 games and I’m certain it has given Beal something else to think about as he prepares for arguably the most important stretch, as it pertains to a decision regarding his future, of his Wizards’ career thus far.
There’s no question that the Wizards will be ready to fork over the max money that he’s going to command on the open market. However, at the same rate, there will also be plenty of teams ready to give Beal a max offer in free agency as well.
At the moment, there’s still so much mystery when it comes to Beal and his potential future. In an ideal world, I’m sure there’s a scenario where he remains with the Wizards and they become the contender that he wants to play for.
However, I’m simply not sure how realistic that is at this point. It wouldn’t be shocking either way, but it would make sense if Beal is finally ready to make a change.