After agreeing to postpone an extension last offseason to keep the Kevin Durant dream alive, the Washington Wizards and Bradley Beal have agreed upon a five-year, $128 million-plus max contract. Beal was a young draft pick after one season at Florida, has just turned 23 and the Wizards are buying the best years of his prime.

The primary concern on Beal is how he’s been almost perpetually injured throughout his career. Those injuries alone are a substantial concern but they’ve also prevented him from becoming a truly known quantity after four NBA seasons. There is risk on the part of the Wizards in guaranteeing such a significant amount of money to a player who can't always stay on the court, but there was no replacing his production and a sign-and-trade would have yielded pennies on the dollar while going away from their win-now mission.

Beal came into the NBA as a 38.6 percent three-point shooter and it’s realistic to expect that to be his baseline for the duration of his twenties even as his volume increases as it did this season at 7.7 per 100 possessions. Beal shot 42.9 percent on corner three-pointers this past season, up from 35.8 percent a season ago. 

Beal has more potential than he’s shown both as a secondary playmaker off the dribble and as a defensive player. Beal scored an elite 1.02 points per possession in isolations on about one attempt per game. This is part of his game that the Wizards hope can be relied upon with more frequency to take away some of the shot creation responsibilities from John Wall. 

Beal has also made improvements with his mid-range game and his general ability to beat defenders off the dribble with sophistication.

Beal has been even more productive in the playoffs with his PER jumping from 14.3 to 17.0 in 13-14 and 14.0 to 17.9 in 14-15. Beal averaged 23.4 points per game in those 2015 Playoffs, showing he can remain a highly productive player even when opposing defenses can game plan against him with far greater depth than in the regular season.

Klay Thompson has been the model as a two-way shooting guard with one of the best three-point shots in the game and though there’s considerable differences in their physical profiles with Beal not having the same type of length, it is an apt surface comparison. Thompson took a similar big leap after signing his extension in 2014 and he was more than a full year older after spending three years at Washington State. Thompson gives Stephen Curry defensive cover, frequently taking the better guard scorer. Wall is one of the NBA’s best point guard defenders, which leaves Beal to simply defend his position.

The backcourt nucleus of Beal and John Wall remains one of the NBA’s best foundations. They are young, athletic, talented and competitive, plus their styles are perfect complements to one another. 

Grade for Wizards: A- 

Beal now becomes the Wizards’ highest paid player as Wall was signed three years ago to a five-year, $80 million extension. For a player with an injury history even before last season, there was a clear risk in not signing an extension last summer but Beal had no real leverage to command it other than threatening to test the semi-open market in restricted free agency.

Beal receives his max contract without needing to meet other teams and he can now begin evolving into the perennial All-Star shooting guard he’s capable of becoming.

Grade for Bradley Beal: A