On November 30, 2009, Beal committed to the University of Florida. Beal accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the university, where he played for coach Billy Donovan's Gators team during the 2011–12 season.

In his first game at Florida, Beal started and recorded 14 points. Beal was named SEC Freshman of the Week on November 28, 2011. During the week of 11/21–11/28, Beal averaged 18.5 points, seven rebounds, two assists and 1.5 steals in two wins over Wright State and Jacksonville.

Beal would go on to win five additional SEC Freshman of the Week honors and be named to the SEC All-Freshman Team and was a first-team All-SEC selection. Beal finished the season averaging 14.8 points per game. He also helped his team advance to the Elite Eight during the NCAA tournament before being ousted by Louisville.

On April 13, 2012, Beal declared for the NBA draft, foregoing his final three years of college eligibility. On June 28, 2012, his 19th birthday, Beal was drafted with the third overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards.

Beal was named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month in December 2012 and January 2013. On January 4, 2013, in a game against the Brooklyn Nets, Beal scored a then career high 24 points and hit a clutch three-pointer to send the game to double overtime; the Wizards went on to lose the game. On January 17, Beal set a then career best with six three-pointers made in a loss to the Sacramento Kings. He went on to be selected to appear in the Rising Stars competition at the 2013 All-Star weekend.

On April 3, 2013, it was announced that Beal would miss the remainder of the 2012–13 season with a right leg injury. At the end of the season, after playing 56 games, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie first team, and finished third in voting for the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
On November 10, 2013, Beal surpassed his then-career high by scoring 34 points in an overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He later set a then-benchmark for his personal best by scoring a career-high 37 points in a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Beal finished as runner-up in the Three-Point Shootout at the 2014 NBA All-Star Weekend in New Orleans, losing to Marco Belinelli. At the time, Beal was the youngest competitor in the event's history. On April 29, 2014, Beal and the Wizards defeated the Bulls in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, moving the team on to the second round, a feat the franchise hadn't reached since 2005. In their series against the top-seeded Indiana Pacers, the Wizards lost in six games.
On October 11, 2014, Beal underwent an MRI that revealed a non-displaced fracture of the scaphoid bone in his left wrist, subsequently requiring surgery. He was later ruled out for six to eight weeks. After missing the first nine games of the season with the injury, he made his season debut on November 19 against the Dallas Mavericks.

In just under 26 minutes off the bench, he recorded a team-high 21 points, as well as 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal, in the 102–105 loss. He went on to make a game-winning buzzer beater on December 10 against the Orlando Magic. With 0.8 seconds left on the clock, coach Randy Wittman drew up a guard around screen for Beal off the pass from Andre Miller that ended Orlando's attempts to send the game into overtime. He finished the game with 9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block in the 91–89 win.

On …

Read more on Wikipedia

Beal committed to playing on the 2020 U.S. Olympic team, delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. After playing in three exhibition games, he was ruled out for the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for the coronavirus. Beal later expressed interest in joining the 2024 U.S. Olympic team if he was asked to join.