Bradley Beal‘s new five-year, maximum-salary contract with the Wizards includes a no-trade clause, reports Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). That will give Beal the right to block any trade during the next several seasons.
There are several different scenarios in which a player can earn the right to veto a trade during a single league year. A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year deal with an option year – is given no-trade protection. So is a player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team. Players who accept one-year qualifying offers after their rookie contracts expire also receive veto power.
However, an actual no-trade clause that spans the life of a contract can only be negotiated by a player who has been in the NBA for at least eight years and has spent at least four years with his current team — Beal qualifies, having spent all 10 of his NBA seasons in D.C.
Even for players who meet the criteria, no-trade clauses are extremely rare — Beal is just the 10th player in NBA history to receive one, Marks notes (via Twitter). Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and Dirk Nowitzki had no-trade clauses in their respective deals as recently as 2017/18, but no player has had one since — until now.
In addition to featuring a no-trade clause, Beal’s new $251MM contract includes a 15% trade kicker and a fifth-year player option, according to Marks (Twitter link).