Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal. (Photo : Getty Images)
The NBA free agency rumors continue with players and teams stating their positions. Bradley Beal declared himself a max player and his team seems to agree.
One team that wants to settle their offseason "to do" list early is the Washington Wizards. After recent buzz that their restricted free agent Bradley Beal wants the max contract, the Wizards quickly responded, according to a report from Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post.
"Barring a drastic development, Beal won't have to shop around. The Wizards are expected to offer Beal a five-year deal for the maximum amount allowed under the salary cap as soon as the free agent negotiating period kicks off on July 1, according to people with knowledge of the situation," Castillo wrote.
While Beal has his shortcomings, particularly his injury history, the market dictates a player's value this summer and with the salary cap increasing, there will be other teams that would offer the max for Beal. That would place the Wizards in a compromising situation where they would have to match the offer, derailing the team's master plan.
As Castillo laid out, the Wizards want to keep Beal and still pursue Kevin Durant. The latter may be contingent on the former as the Wall-Beal tandem is a selling point to attract the former MVP.
"The plan is to strike an accord with Beal immediately, but to wait to officially sign him until all the other pieces fall in place because they own his Bird Rights, a salary cap exception that allows teams to exceed the cap in order to re-sign their own players," Castillo explained.
Thus, the Wizards can keep Beal from entertaining other offers (since they already have a max agreed on), blow their cap space on Kevin Durant then sign Beal using his Bird Rights.
Castillo's report was corroborated by J.Michael of CSN Mid Atlantic when he reported that "the Wizards remain determined to keep their core intact which means Beal stays put with John Wall, Markieff Morris, Marcin Gortat, Kelly Oubre and Otto Porter."
Michael also noted that the market for shooting guard is very thin. Aside from Beal, the only upper tier names are DeMar DeRozan and Dwyane Wade who might not even leave their current teams.
Other options like Courtney Lee, Evan Turner or even Kent Bazemore (although he plays the three more) would not produce what Beal does on a consistent basis.
