The Washington Wizards have a major decision to make with Bradley Beal, as the guard wants a max contract extension when he signs his next deal, but he may not get one with the Wiz trying to keep space open to sign Kevin Durant as a free agent. The team has also had trade interest in point guard Garrett Temple from the Utah Jazz.
Beal and the Wizards have been talking about a contract extension and the sides have reportedly reached an "impasse" in negotiations. According to CSN Washington, J. Michael reports that the Wizards are "willing" to give Beal a contract extension offer, but they are "not going to offer him the maximum extension right now simply because they don't have to." Beal thinks that he is a max player and so if a deal can't get done now, the sides have some time before Beal becomes a restricted free agent next year.
Pro Basketball Talk writes that the Wizards may want to wait since there is no urgency right now to sign Beal to a deal and since he will be restricted, the team will get a chance to secure him if it gets that far. The guard is heading into his fourth season and he is getting to the point where the Wizards need to sign him back to a deal or risk losing him eventually. Beal has shown that he has the potential to be a star player and he has played well alongside franchise star John Wall.
The main reason for the delay for the Wizards likely has to do with Kevin Durant. PBT reports that Beal would have a cap hold of over $14 million for a $20 million max salary and that if the team waits, they will have around $7 million extra to work with. The team is going to go hard after Kevin Durant next summer and if the team doesn't sign him, the Wizards could go after another free agent. Beal has a deadline of November 2 for an extension and it will be interesting to see how things play out.
Beal has had some injury issues in his career and he has not played more than 73 games in any season in the league. Beal played in 63 games last season and averaged 15 points and 3.1 assists per game, which was slightly down from his career best numbers of 17 points and 3.3 assists per game in 2013-14. The Wizards have reportedly had interest from the Utah Jazz in Garrett Temple, but the team does not want to make a move with the guard.
According to CSN Washington, the team had interest from the Jazz after the team lost Dante Exum to an injury. J. Michael writes that the team is "not interested" in moving Temple, as they like having him as a depth option behind John Wall with Ramon Sessions. The Jazz now have Trey Burke competing to start after Exum went down with an ACL injury.
Check here for more on the Beal contract situation, the interest in Durant and more on interest in Temple and if a trade will go down.