Bradley Beal is showing signs of irritation with the Wizards’ recent play. Beal made it clear he feels that if the Wizards end up in the play-in tournament, he’d view it as a step back, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Beal has not signed an extension and holds an option on his contract for next season. He hinted that how the team finishes might impact his future plans.
“I don’t want to be a play-in team. I don’t think anybody in our organization wants to be a play-in team,” he said to NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller. “And I think so from that standpoint, I’m not alone in that thinking. I think we all know that we can be better than a play-in team. And we’ve obviously got to put in the work and do that. But I mean, I feel like that’s a step back in a lot of ways and we’re trying to proceed forward and that’s kind of either staying the same as last year or not making any progress at all. And so, that plays a factor into (his future plans).”
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Jimmy Butler is listed as questionable for the Heat‘s game on Friday’ against the Clippers because of left big toe irritation, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. Butler had 22 points, six rebounds and five assists in 29 minutes against the Knicks on Wednesday. Kyle Lowry will be out for a sixth straight game because of personal reasons and there’s no definitive timetable for the point guard’s return.
- Heat forward P.J. Tucker, who holds a $7.4MM player option on his contract for 2022/23, plans to play beyond next season, he told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “Two or three (years) is easy. My question is do I want to go past five,” Tucker said. “Next three or four will be easy. If we go past three or four, then we start talking.”
- Bogdan Bogdanovic‘s knee held up well after his return to action on Wednesday, Sarah Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. Bogdanovic had 18 points and seven assists in 23 minutes for the Hawks against Sacramento after missing nearly two weeks. He was moving well in practice on Thursday. “It feels good. He’s moving good,” coach Nate McMillan said. “He said he came out of the game OK last night.”
Hawks need to trade shooters for defenders
Wizards need to keep Beal or they are in a sudden rebuild if he walks. The likes of which could take years to get out of. NONE of their recent draft picks look like future stars.
Go all in for Grant. Bryant, Hachimura, Holiday and 2 FRPs get it done.
Or trade Beal for Ben Simmons and a ton of draft compensation.
At this point keeping Beal means give him a super-max extension. If they do that they will be doomed for years to come, he isn’t worth that amount of money, those contracts kills all your felxibility so you should give them to truly MVP Caliber players or near that, not just a good scorer like Beal.
Every team needs to keep stars
Stars are hard to find
If this report is true and let’s say the Wizards make the playoffs in or worse they miss it and Beal doesn’t resign in FA I’d love for him on the Sixers.
Right now the Wizards are 10th in the just ahead of the Knicks, and Hawks who sit half a game behind. I don’t think they make it over those two teams. Beal would then be wise to leave considering he’s now spent a decade with the team and never achieved anything. He’s 28 and it’ll be his chance to push for a title before he’s too old and starts chasing.
With that said the Wizards have tried (poorly) to build around Beal but it also seems they have kept a close eye on young players and a potential rebuild. In which case wouldn’t Ben Simmons be the perfect low price/great talent/high ceiling player to get for the rebuild.
After the comments Beal made a couple days ago, about being a franchise’s #1, and having the franchise build around and cater to you. I honestly don’t see Beal joining another squad..
When healthy, the Wizards are an extremely deep team.
They need to work with the talent they have, keep Kuzma, Hachi, Bryant, and Beal, and then use their other assets to get off maximizing as a fringe playoff team..Otherwise, they’ll just stay pretty mediocre at best.
If the “work with the talent they have”, their ceiling is 5# or 6# in the East. Beal can’t be the first option in a team that is fighting for home court advantage, he isn’t that good. They should move him right now and not give him a super albatross contract just for the sake of keeping him.
Man, I am sooo sick of Beal’s whinging, boohooing, crying, whinnying, moaning & so on…
I mean your team is clearly worst than last year… but, Mr Beal maybe you must start playing better, this year you taken a bunch of backsteps with your game, the bug always stops at the top, if you are the top dog in the team, figure out who’s fault it is!
I use to love so much Beal & Dame for their loyalty, but, boy do they whine about winning, right?
If you wanna stay do it, if you wanna go do it, whatever, but stop whinnying about winning, that shouldn’t be the reason you stay or not!
Really liked the idea of a WASH/ATL/Phil 3 team trade earlier in Dana’s chat
Id be open to dealing Beal if it could net me John Collins++. I wouldn’t want just a litter of picks
Wizards ledger becomes very fluid while also providing some building blocks for the future without having to live under the notion that every year is make or break (It shouldn’t be) . They really have come a long way in 2 years time even if the W/L record doesn’t necessarily reflect it
Pj Tucker has been amazing this year