More On Bradley Beal’s New Clippers Deal

Reporting on Thursday indicated that Beal’s second-year player option wouldn’t be fully guaranteed, and if a second-year option includes a partial guarantee, the first year of the deal must be partially guaranteed at the same percentage. Fischer says both years feature partial guarantees in the $3-3.2MM range, with an August 18 guarantee date.

That means Beal’s 2026/27 salary will become fully guaranteed in a matter of days, whereas if he exercises his player option for the ’27/28 season by June 29, 2027, the Clippers will have an additional seven-plus weeks to decide whether or not to lock in the remaining portion of his salary.

Based on the reported terms, it sounds as if Beal received a full Non-Bird raise, with a first-year salary of $6,424,800 and a second-year player option of $6,746,040. According to Fischer, the agreement will also include a 15% trade kicker.

Typically, when a player re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract or a two-year contract that includes a second-year option, he’s awarded the right to veto a trade during the current league year, since he’d lose his Bird rights if he’s dealt.

However, a player’s team can ask him to waive those veto rights as part of a contract agreement, and the majority of free agents who have met this criteria so far this offseason have done just that. As our tracker shows, 14 of the 22 players who were re-signed on one-year deals or two-year deals with second-year options have given up their implicit no-trade clauses. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Beal becomes the 15th, though that hasn’t been confirmed.

The Clippers didn’t provide any formal updates during the second half of last season on Beal’s recovery from his season-ending hip fracture, so it’s unclear whether or not the team expects him to be back at full health for the start of the 2026/27 season. Within a story about Beal’s new deal, Law Murray and Sam Amick of The Athletic say the veteran shooting guard is “back on the court in a limited capacity.”