There have been great players on bad teams before, but Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards are setting a new standard in the combination of brilliance and futility.
For the third time in the season, Beal lost more than 40 points on Wednesday. Specifically, he scored 47 points from 17 of 37 shots with six assists, four rebounds, four steals and just three turns. It was a stellar game by the NBA scorer this season.
The Wizards still lost by 18 points to the New Orleans Pelicans by 6 to 10.
This may sound familiar if you’ve been following the Wizards for the past year, as it looks like no Beal score is enough to steal a win. For three different times in the past year, Beal recorded a career point record just for his team to lose, the most recent being when he set a franchise record of 60 points in a loss.
In fact, the Wizards have already lost 10 consecutive games in which Beal scored 40 or more points, breaking a decades-old record held by the 1961-62 Chicago Packers Hall of Fame Walt Bellamy.
Per @EliasSports: Bradley Beal has already lost 10 consecutive games in which he scored 40 or more points.
This is now the longest streak of its kind in NBA history since last season.
Beal was tied in 9 games with Walt Bellamy.
– Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) January 28, 2021
This is what this statistic looks like in screenshot form:
In all, Beal now averages 36.8 points per game in Wizards defeats and 30.7 in wins. Overall, he averages 35.4 points per game, the best in the NBA, for the 3-11 Wizards.
It was in this context that his wife, Kamiah Adams-Beal, tweeted this:
Beal himself didn’t seem very enthusiastic after the game either:
Bradley Beal, when asked if he is frustrated: “Is the sky blue?”
– Chase Hughes (@ChaseHughesNBCS) January 28, 2021
Before you start doing photoshopping Beal for your favorite team’s uniform, be aware that Beal may have talked about the recent Wizards injury / situation COVID-19 and alluded to his desire to stay in the city minutes before.
Wizards are in a bad place
In the Wizards’ defense, this defeat was at least understandable, despite Beal having scored 47 points. Annex A: This injury / illness report.
For those who are scoring at home, this group includes Wizards’ starting point guard, small starting striker, forward striker, starting center and a good portion of the team’s rotation off the bench. All of these players were unavailable due to the prolonged effects of a COVID-19 outbreak, injury or, in the case of Russell Westbrook, rest. The two-week layoff due to the outbreak probably did not help players on the court.
This kind of loss of personnel is like a player like Beal recording 37 attempts at goal from the field with the record of the season.
Beal was not exactly perfect in defeats, even when scoring in groups, however. Your points per game in defeats are higher, but your rebounds per game, assists per game, turnovers per game, offensive rating on the court, defensive rating on the court and percentage of true shooting suffer comparatively, while your usage rating increases. Essentially, Wizards seem to turn to Beal over and over again when things aren’t working elsewhere, which is often.
The possibility of a Beal swap has become big in recent years, and the Wizards haven’t done much to change it, even with Beal playing one of the best basketballs of his life and insisting he wants to win in DC
Wednesday will only trigger a new round of speculation.
More from Yahoo Sports: