Bradley Beal is running it back with the Los Angeles Clippers, with the three-time NBA All-Star agreeing to a new deal following an injury-plagued first season in Los Angeles.
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According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Beal has agreed to a two-year, $13.2 million (A$18.6 million) contract with the Clippers, which includes a player option for the second season.
The decision comes after the 33-year-old declined his $5.6 million (A$7.9 million) player option in June, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent and assess his options around the league.
Despite opting out, the Clippers maintained an interest in bringing the veteran guard back, with both sides ultimately agreeing to continue their partnership.
NBA insider Chris Haynes also confirmed the agreement.
“Free agent guard Bradley Beal has agreed to return to the Los Angeles Clippers on a two-year, $13.2M deal with a player option, Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports tells me,” Haynes wrote.
Beal will now be hoping his second season in Los Angeles goes considerably better than his first.
After joining the Clippers during the 2025 off-season, Beal appeared in just six games before suffering a fractured left hip that required surgery and prematurely ended his season.
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Across those six appearances, he averaged 8.2 points and 1.7 assists per game, giving Los Angeles little opportunity to see what he could provide alongside the rest of its roster.
Durability remains the biggest question surrounding Beal, who has not played more than 60 games in a season since 2018-19.
But while the dominant scorer who once carried the Washington Wizards may be behind him, his résumé explains why the Clippers are prepared to give him another opportunity.
Beal entered the NBA as the No. 3 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft and spent his first 11 seasons in Washington, developing into one of the league’s premier scorers.
He earned three All-Star selections during his time with the Wizards and was named to the All-NBA Third Team in 2020-21 after averaging a career-high 31.3 points per game.
That campaign marked his second consecutive season averaging more than 30 points, while Beal has averaged at least 22 points per game across seven seasons during his 14-year NBA career.
His production declined following a move to the Phoenix Suns in 2023, where a star-studded partnership failed to deliver the success many expected. Beal failed to average 20 points per game in either of his two seasons in Phoenix before eventually making his way to Los Angeles.
At 33, the expectation will no longer be for Beal to reproduce his All-Star numbers from Washington.
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Instead, the Clippers will be hoping a healthy Beal can provide scoring, ball-handling, perimeter shooting and veteran experience in the back-court.
There was interest elsewhere, with NBA insider Marc Stein reporting the Miami Heat were among the teams monitoring Beal’s free agency before his decision to remain in Los Angeles.
The Clippers are also looking to rebound following a disappointing 2025-26 campaign, finishing ninth in the Western Conference with a 42-40 record before being eliminated by the Golden State Warriors in the play-in tournament.
With the franchise potentially approaching another period of transition, bringing Beal back on a relatively low-cost deal provides Los Angeles with some upside without a significant long-term commitment.
The question, as it has increasingly become throughout the latter stages of his career, will be health.
If Beal can stay on the court and rediscover even some of the offensive form that made him one of the NBA’s most dangerous scorers in Washington, the Clippers could have themselves a valuable piece heading into the new season.