Bradley Beal, the Washington Wizards’ star guard, got off to an incredibly productive – and historic – start in the 2020-21 NBA season. Beal has played 17 games for Washington so far and has scored at least 25 points in each game. In the process, Beal spent Michael Jordan to set the record for most consecutive games over 25 points to start a season since 1976-77. Considering the fact that Jordan is widely considered the greatest player of all time, it is quite impressive when a player passes him in the record books.
Given how consistently productive he has been on the offensive side, it’s no surprise that Beal is leading the entire NBA in season scores with an average of 35 points per game. Unfortunately for Beal, his massive offensive production did not lead to many victories for Washington, as the Wizards are nearing the end of the Eastern Conference with a 5-13 record. In fact, it sometimes seems that the more points Beal scores, the worse Washington does. Last week, Beal became the first player in NBA history to lose 10 consecutive games in which he scored 40 points. Often, when players accumulate points like Beal has done, their teams are able to capitalize on the winning column, but that was not the case with Wizards.
The defeat is understandably affecting Beal. When asked by a media member last week whether he was frustrated with his team’s performance, Beal offered a simple – and revealing, answer:
“The sky is blue?
“It’s difficult. I’m not going to sit here and be naive. It’s difficult,” added Beal. “We want to win. I want to win. That’s why I stayed. I want to win [here]. I think this is where I can do that. So, it’s difficult. ”
Given how well he has played and the fact that the Wizards are well off the playoff scene in the East, Beal’s name has often appeared in trade rumors in recent weeks. After all, it projects as an excellent fit in several candidates for the current title. However, despite the Wizards’ struggles and resulting frustration, Beal is not interested in a trade outside of Washington. Instead, he wants to fix the ship with the Wizards – the only team he has played for in his professional career.
Things change quickly in the NBA, however. If the Wizards continue to stumble, perhaps Beal will change his stance when it comes to a trade and decide that he prefers to be preparing for a team that has a chance to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the end of the season. The NBA negotiation deadline has been set for March 25 this season, and all eyes will remain on Washington until then.