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Even though it is hard to talk about the scale of things for people who have never experienced NBA-type money, leaving more than $70 million on the table just to potentially have a better chance of putting a ring on your finger is a deal many wouldn’t take.
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That was exactly the position Bradley Beal found himself in during the summer of 2022. After spending his entire career with the Washington Wizards up to that point, a franchise that he, with a little bit of help on the side from the likes of John Wall and even Russell Westbrook for a brief period, helped keep afloat and somewhat competitive, Beal had a massive decision on his hands.
Brad had to choose between staying in D.C. and becoming eligible for a five-year, $251 million supermax deal, or leaving the only NBA home he had ever known and signing a four-year, $179 million contract elsewhere in hopes of finding more team success.
Much more than just the numbers
Choosing between those two options might sound more like picking between a great and an even better situation, but for Beal, it was much more than looking at sheer numbers.
“It is tough. It is a blessing and a curse in so many ways. Financially, yes, it is a lot of money,” Beal
“I guarantee you if you take a poll on Twitter, if you got offered this compared to this, everybody in their right mind would sign the big boy.”
After years of individual success in Washington, the missing piece was winning at the highest level. And that was something Beal had to take into consideration as well.
“I get that. But I can’t concern myself with what other people would say and think. That’s going to be their opinion,” he explained. “I know what my decision will be based off of, and that’s going to be where I feel like I can win.”
And if Beal believed that place was still Washington, he was ready to continue fighting for the franchise. Even though, on paper, the luck was waiting around the corner in some other, more competitive francshise at the time.
“If I feel like I can win in D.C., that’s what I’m going to do and I want people to respect that. You may, you may not, but I’m going to fight my ass off. I’m going to compete and I’m going to try to make this team better.”
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Beal ultimately chose Washington
In the end, Beal decided to stay with the organization that selected him with the third overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, signing a five-year, $251 million deal with the Wizards (before eventually leaving for Phoenix).
It seems the difference was impossible to ignore, and the money side won, but Beal insisted that winning and finding the right situation were also on his mind, no matter what the naysayers might think.
Beal eventually took the “big boy” deal. But judging by his comments at the time, there was much more going through his head than simply taking the biggest number on the table.
Even today, some former players-turned-analysts and podcasters often talk about whether they would sacrifice that kind of money if it meant getting at least one chance to reach the Association’s mountaintop and write their names into basketball immortality. However, most of them would probably take the money any day of the week. Especially when we are talking about a double-digit million-dollar difference. And, truth be told, nobody can really blame them.
As of today, Beal is still without the ring, but the money he pocketed will most definitely ease that pain.
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