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After Bradley Beal was drafted by the Washington Wizards, there was hope that he could become the yin to John Wall‘s yang in the backcourt. But it is now clear that the shooting guard could be the Wizards’ version of Derrick Rose.
Beal has been effective in the playoffs during his career; however, he is rarely healthy in the regular season.
The Wizards will probably miss the postseason, because Beal sprained his pelvis on Saturday night in a 100-99 loss to the Indiana Pacers. Beal scored 12 points before the injury, but he has missed 16 additional games this season thanks to a stress reaction in his right leg.
He has also been sidelined in the past due to wrist, leg and ankle problems, and he had to don a protective mask this year after suffering a nasal fracture and concussion against the Toronto Raptors. The Wizards will likely have to offer him a maximum contract to retain him this summer, and they would be foolish to decline giving him that. The problem is that if they give him a max deal, then they’ll be locked into it for the foreseeable future. That could hold back their potential, because if Beal is constantly dealing with injuries, it will be hard for Washington to improve as a team with him there.
The Wizards haven’t been a legitimate contender since the days that Gilbert Arenas was an All-Star, and we all saw how that worked out after his knee surgery. It might be best to move Beal in the summer, but that won’t happen. Their front office hasn’t exactly been bold in free agency, and their move at the trade deadline was to add the troubled forward Markieff Morris to the lineup. Trading for Dwight Howard would have been a higher ceiling decision, but they instead decided to play it safe in hopes that Kevin Durant will join them this summer.
This was a mistake, and they’ll be stuck with Beal’s max contract as a result. Here is hoping his career stops mirroring that of Rose, because that story doesn’t appear to have a happy ending.
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