Bradley Beal not rushing to sign a contract extension with Wizards / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: USA Today – Scanpix Credit USA Today – Scanpix

The Washington Wizards presented a four-year, $181.5 million extension to Bradley Beal but he is not in a hurry to pen on a deal, via The Washington Post.

"My biggest thing is getting us off going to a good start," Beal said on the media day. "We worry about the contract money and all that later. I’ll let them deal with it when the time comes, for sure. I got all year to sign, too. So I’m not in a rush."

Per the report, the 28-year-old, who holds a player option for the 2022-23 season, could stand to earn roughly $50 million more if he waits and chooses to become a free agent in 2022.

By then, Beal will have reached 10 years of service in the NBA and be eligible for a contract worth 35 percent of the salary cap. As a free agent, he could re-sign with the Wizards or head to any team with enough cap space available.

The Wizards selected the 1.90-meter shooting guard with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2012 draft. He's been among the top 10 scorers in the NBA each of the past four seasons.

In 2020-21, he averaged 31.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.4 assists in 60 games and was selected to his third All-Star Game. He also connected on 88.9 percent of his free throws.

This summer Beal was selected to the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team but was forced to withdraw because of COVID-19 protocols.

In recent days, the American guard was in the spotlight due to his opinion on vaccines from COVID-19. Via The Atlantic, he tried to turn questions about vaccination back on reporters at the presentation conference.

"I would like an explanation to, you know, people with vaccines," he said. "Why are they still getting COVID? If that’s something that we are supposed to highly be protected from, like, it’s funny that it only reduces your chances of going to the hospital.

It doesn’t eliminate anybody from getting COVID, right? So is everybody in here vaxxed, I would assume? Right. So you all can still get COVID, right?"

Worth noticing that health experts have repeatedly said - the COVID-19 vaccines offer strong protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death but not necessarily against contracting the coronavirus itself.

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