Washington Wizards star guard Bradley Beal has an incredibly productive – and historic – start to the 2020-21 NBA season. Beal has played in 17 games for Washington so far, scoring at least 25 points in each appearance. In the process, Beal Michael Jordan passed to set the record for most consecutive 25-plus-game games to start a season since 1976-77. Since Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time, it is quite impressive when a player gives himself up in the record books.
Given that he has been consistently productive on the offensive side, it’s no surprise that Beal scored the entire NBA this season with an average of 35 points per game. Unfortunately for Beal, his enormous offensive output did not lead to many victories for Washington, as the Wizards sit near the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a 5-13 record. In fact, sometimes the more points Beal scores, the worse Washington does. Last week, Beal became the first player in NBA history to lose ten consecutive games in which he scored 40 points. Often when players accumulate points like Beal did, their teams can capitalize on the winning column, but that was just not the case for the Wizards.
The loss understandably takes its toll on Beal. When asked by a member of the media last week if he was frustrated with his team’s achievements, he offered a simple and eloquent answer:
Is the sky blue?
“It’s hard. I’m not going to sit here and be naive. It’s hard,” Beal added. “We want to win. I want to win. That’s why I stayed. I want to win [here]. I think this is the place where I can do it. So it’s hard. ‘
Given how well he has played, and the fact that the Wizards are far beyond the playoffs in the East, Beal’s name has regularly surfaced in trade rumors over the past few weeks. After all, he works as an excellent fit with several current candidates. Despite the Wizards’ struggles and his resulting frustration, Beal is apparently not interested in a trade from Washington. Instead, he wants to fix the ship with the Wizards – the only team he has ever played for in his professional career.
Things are changing fast in the NBA. If the Wizards keep plodding, Beal might change his mind when it comes to a trade and decide he would rather act for a team that has a chance to lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the end of the season. The NBA deadline is set for March 25 this season and all eyes will be on Washington until then.