The Washington Wizards are one of the worst teams in the NBA with a 4-12 record despite having the league’s leading scorer by far in Bradley Beal.
So, naturally, most people in and around the league are expecting Beal to demand a trade at some point to make his way to a contender and finally compete for a championship.
But, apparently, that isn’t happening anytime soon.
Beal doesn’t want to be traded from Washington, according to reporting from The Athletic’s Shams Charania. He’s not happy with the way the season is going in Washington, but he also not indicated that he wants to be moved. And the Wizards have no interest in moving him, according to the report.
It doesn’t stop there, though. Beal is also apparently “frustrated and confused” by everyone saying he should demand a trade.
“He is privately frustrated and confused with the perpetual portrayal of his situation, according to sources familiar with his thinking. After seeing other players take criticism for requesting to leave teams, those sources say Beal feels he’s getting nitpicked for choosing to stay in D.C., where he began his NBA career in 2012. He felt similarly when he signed an extension in October 2019. Speculation about his future has swirled since before then.”
He sees how people reacted to both Anthony Davis forcing his way out of New Orleans and James Harden forcing his way out of Houston to get to better situations. And he could easily take that same route here. But, of course, he’d be criticized for it.
Or, he could simply stay in Washington and keep trying to win and turn that situation around which, of course, he’s currently being criticized for. Either way, he’s going to take heat. So if this is the way he wants to go about doing things, who are we to tell him he should do otherwise?
It’s fair to say that the Wizards might be in better shape if they move him. They’d probably come away with a haul that helps them build a new foundation for the future. And no one could blame Beal if he just wanted to get out of his current situation. It’s bad. Really bad. Things could certainly change here. The situation is fluid.
But there’s nothing wrong with playing things the way he’s playing them. Especially when there’s a potential supermax contract coming for him down the road in a few years.
