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Source: Wizards offer Bradley Beal new contract extension

By Chase Hughes

Source: Wizards offer Beal contract extension originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

The Wizards made a contract extension offer to star guard Bradley Beal on Friday morning, NBC Sports Washington has learned.

The move was expected given the signals sent by the organization leading up to the negotiating window opening on Oct. 1. Washington general manager Tommy Sheppard said on the record this offseason the Wizards would be giving Beal an offer the moment they could. The Washington Post was first to report the Oct. 1 date. 

There had been some confusion when Washington could make the offer given the shift in the NBA calendar from the previous two seasons due to the coronavirus. As of the beginning of the offseason, the league had not made the date official.

The offer to Beal is straightforward in the sense the Wizards want to re-sign him and are willing to give him the full four-year, $181.5 million he can earn if he decides to sign. But it’s also more open-ended in that Beal could decide to sign for fewer years to maintain flexibility for himself as he did in 2019 when he signed his last extension, a two-year deal that kicks in for the upcoming 2021-22 season with the second year a player option that Beal could decline next summer. 

Beal can also wait. If he goes through this season and exercises that 2022-23 player option to become a free agent, he can then sign with the Wizards for five years and an estimated $235 million. Beal himself indicated he does not feel urgency to sign since he can technically agree to a new contract at any time this season. 

Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, categorized the situation similarly to NBC Sports Washington on Friday. He guided Beal through the process last time, saying that deal was “designed to put him in this position.”

“It’s not a contentious thing,” Bartelstein said. “There’s a lot of different scenarios for how this could go.”

Bartelstein added Beal is excited for the new season and believes the organization is heading in a positive direction. 

Additionally, Beal does not plan on setting any unofficial deadlines to avoid negotiating during the season. While that is common for pro athletes, Beal is leaving much of the talking up to Bartelstein, Sheppard and team chairman Ted Leonsis and doesn’t foresee it being a distraction.

Naturally, the noise could grow louder as it pertains to trade rumors, which Beal has grown accustomed to in recent years. But there is a flip-side to that. By waiting he could both base his decision on how the Wizards’ new-look roster comes together this season and put indirect pressure on the front office to continue building forward.

The way things went last time, though, may suggest caution for setting an expectation one way or another. The outside consensus was that Beal wouldn’t sign an extension in 2019, that he could make more money if he waited. Ultimately, the Wizards and Beal found a deal that worked.

Now, they are back at the negotiating table once again.

Wizards need to get Spencer Dinwiddie back to player he was early in year

By Chase Hughes
Wizards need to get Spencer Dinwiddie back on track originally appeared on NBC Sports WashingtonWhen the Wizards loaded up on depth this past offseason and went away from the top-heavy payroll that defined their roster in recent years, the idea was that they would be less reliant on individual players. Through the first few weeks of this season, that played out accordingly, as they overcame injuries and off-nights from their top scorers.But over the last month or so, they have come to realize just how important it is for them to have Spencer Dinwiddie playing well. He's their starting point guard, their first line of both offense and defense. And when he goes, they go.His trajectory this season has perfectly mirrored the Wizards' as a team. When they began the year 10-3, he averaged 17.0 points and 6.0 assists while shooting 42.9% from the field and 37.7% from three. In their last 15 games, which they have lost 10, he has averaged just 9.3 points and 4.3 assists while shooting 33.3% overall and 27.8% from deep.Though it's a perfect correlation, that is not to suggest he has been their only problem. In fact, there are many things they need to fix. But as their starting point guard, clearly his play makes a difference in whether they win or lose.Head coach Wes Unseld Jr. seems to see Dinwiddie's struggles partly through the prism of his developing chemistry with star shooting guard Bradley Beal, who has also played below his usual standards to start this season."We have to find a way to get those two on the same page and get them both aggressive and playing well on the offensive end. That's been a struggle for us," Unseld Jr. said."I think it's something that we've really gotta hone in on and figure out because they are two of our best players. We need them both playing at a high level and the best version of themselves."There's no question Beal and Dinwiddie have struggled together. They have a -7.2 net rating as a duo across 403 minutes. Lineups with those two have a 98.7 offensive rating and 105.9 defensive rating.Dinwiddie, 28, is coming off of a major injury, which may be part of the equation. He had surgery to repair a partially torn ACL in January and is only about 11 months removed from the procedure. He just happened to start the season really well, then go through some growing pains, instead of the other way around.Even Unseld Jr. admitted it's confusing the way things have played out."That's the season in general, there can be lulls in how everyone plays. I'm hoping this is just a brief lull for him and we can get him back on track. But there's really no significant [differences] as far as [defensive] coverage or even what we're running, so it's kind of a mystery," Unseld Jr. said.You can see in the numbers that Dinwiddie isn't quite back to playing the style that suited him before his injury. This season, he is shooting a career-low percentage of field goal attempts within three feet of the rim (15.2%), which helps prove he's not getting there nearly as often as he used to when he was thriving with the Brooklyn Nets. That is coupled by the fact he's a career 31.9% three-point shooter.Dinwiddie is also averaging just 2.9 free throw attempts per game, far below the 7.0 free throws he took on average in 2019-20, his last healthy season in Brooklyn. Though the NBA is enforcing foul rules differently this season, that alone doesn't explain the drop-off.Unseld Jr. expressed confidence Dinwiddie can get to the rim whenever he wants, that it's a matter of doing so at the right time with the right spacing and at the proper angle. The Wizards head coach believes the pick-and-roll is the key to getting Dinwiddie downhill, which is when he's at his best.Beal says he and Dinwiddie can help each other out in that regard."I think just us both being aggressive. That's pretty much all I can point to. Whether it's us scoring or us play-making, we've gotta play a little bit faster," he said.Dinwiddie's play isn't the sole reason for the Wizard's recent losing, but he was a significant cause for their success early this season. They need to find out how to bring that guy back.
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