Bradley Beal misses All-NBA cut, will not be supermax eligible this summer

Bradley Beal fell just 17 points short of making the cut as a guard in 2018-19 All-NBA voting after turning in the best season of his career. He was one of only six players to average 25 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds per game this season (along with Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and LeBron James) and did it while being the only player in the league to play over 3,000 minutes last season.

The Wizards’ underwhelming season was just too much for Beal to overcome. Players rarely make All-NBA when their team finishes with the sixth-worst record in the league.

It’s unfortunate Beal won’t get the extra accolades that come with making an All-NBA team, but it should make things a bit less complicated for the team’s next top executive. If Beal made the cut, he would have been eligible for a four-year supermax extension similar to the one John Wall signed in 2017. It would have put Washington in a tight spot where they likely would have had to offer Beal a big extension that would have further limited their ability to pursue free agents in the future, or else risk him asking for a trade if he doesn’t see a future in Washington.

Now, Washington doesn’t have to make a critical decision of Beal’s future this summer, but everything they do moving forward will come with an understanding he’s just two years away from unrestricted free agency. However, if he makes All-NBA next season, he will once again be eligible for a supermax extension in the summer of 2020 before he hits free agency in 2021.