The Wizards could offer Bradley Beal a new contract extension as soon as today

The Washington Wizards have made no attempt to hide the fact that they are building around Bradley Beal and will do almost anything to keep him in town. To that end, they are prepared to offer him an extension which could be as much as $181.5 million over four years, according to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post.

During Media Day last Monday, Beal was clear that he was not in a rush to sign, though the team is prepared to offer an extension as soon as possible, per Wallace’s article. Ultimately, Beal wants to be the franchise star of a winning NBA team, and Washington hasn’t had a regular season record above .500 since the 2017-18 season.

Beal last signed an extension with Washington in 2019, and that extension still hasn’t taken effect, at least officially.

The advantage of signing Beal now is that the Wizards will know who they are building around for the long term future. They have already taken many steps over the past several months to increase the depth of the roster which we have noted in several pieces around the NBA Free Agency period this past summer.

All of that said, the Wizards have yet to be a true Eastern Conference force with him as their primary star. If Washington doesn’t hit the ground running relatively quickly this season, it could increase the chatter around him once the trade deadline comes around during the winter, even considering the publicity surrounding his vaccine status as of Monday this past week.