Veteran point guard Bradley Beal agreed to a two-year, $13.2 million deal to return to the Clippers, the team announced on Thursday evening.
The deal includes a player option for the second year, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports told Southern California News Group.
Beal, whose 14-year career has been plagued by injuries, had season-ending surgery six games into last season to repair a fractured left hip. He suffered the injury in the second quarter of a game against the Phoenix Suns at the Intuit Dome and left the game with what the team called “hip soreness.” An MRI and CT scan confirmed the fracture.
Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank described the injury as “very, very fluky” and compared the acute trauma injury as something seen in car accidents and not on a basketball court.
In six games last season, Beal averaged career lows in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots, field goal percentage and free throw percentage.
Beal declined a $5.6 million player option he held for the 2025-26 season. He had inked a two-year, $11 million contract with the Clippers last summer after agreeing to terms with the Phoenix Suns on a buyout of the final two years of the $251 million extension he had signed with the Washington Wizards in the summer of 2022.
Beal opened last season on a minutes restriction to manage knee inflammation. He missed time early in the season with lower back soreness and a left knee injury, and struggled with his shooting and defense when he was on the court.
The three-time All-Star, 32, played much of his career with the Wizards, where he starred for 11 seasons. Beal earned his first All-Star nod after a breakthrough season in which he averaged 22.6 points and 4.5 assists in 2018 and his second the following season.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Beal scored a career-high 60 points in a 141-136 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, tying Gilbert Arenas’ franchise single-game record. After averaging a career-high 31.3 points per game, second only to Steph Curry’s 32 that season, Beal earned his final All-Star selection that season and his first All-NBA honor, being named to the All-NBA Third Team.
Beal, who hasn’t played more than 53 games in six seasons, has averaged 21.4 points, 4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.1 steals in 34.3 minutes per game in his career.