Bradley Beal may have only played one season wearing the Orange and Blue but he will forever be a Gator, and he currently represents the best former Florida player active in the NBA. Drafted with the third overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft — second-highest only to the legendary Neal Walk and tied with current Boston Celtic Al Horford — the prolific scoring guard spent the first decade of his professional career in D.C.
But that tenure in the nation’s capital might be coming to an end.
In an interview with Josh Robbins of The Athletic, Beal revealed he has made a decision on his future, but because his current contract has not yet expired he declined to provide any insight. All indicators point toward a dive into free agency for the first time in his 10-year career, but he expects plenty of turbulence ahead.
“My situation? Crazy probably,” he told the Associated Press.
According to Spotrac, Beal is set to make a guaranteed $36,422,136 in the final year of his contract extension with the Wizards if he exercises his player option. However, he appears to be hungering for more despite a career often marred by injuries while coming off a down year in which he averaged a team-high 23.2 points on 45.1% shooting but a career-low 30.0% from three over 40 games last season.
If he were to return to the Wizards — who own his Bird rights — Beal is eligible for a five-year maximum deal amounting to nearly $248 million, versus a four-year, $184 million cap on contracts with the rest of the NBA franchises.
The former Gator was recently cleared to resume basketball activities after his campaign was shortened by season-ending wrist surgery back in February, which has complicated his future options thus far. The shooting guard is just a year separated from a two-season stretch in which he became the first UF alumnus to average over 30 points a game in the NBA: 30.5 ppg in 2019-20 and 31.3 ppg in 2020-21. He was edged by future Hall of Famer Stephen Curry in the latter season for the scoring title.
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