While the Washington Wizards 2019-2020 season has been a disappointment, there is light at the end of the tunnel. A light that radiates dominance, charisma, and leadership. That light is Bradley Beal. Beal has been performing exceptionally and has shown that his talent has no ceiling. His ability to take over games and prove his dominance has been something truly special to witness this season. Defenses all around the league have tried to devise a plan to stop him but has failed to do so. There are times it seems as if opposing teams are starting to defend Beal once his car parks in the lot. When your talent and play is this great, it’s more of an acknowledgment of skill rather than a discredit when teams react his way. Beal’s name is on top of the scouting report every night because of his ability to be a 3 point threat alongside being able to take his opponent to the rim and finish inside at a high percentage rate. Guarding a player like this can be a bad night for anyone. 

This 26 year old has taken the leadership role of the Washington Wizards and doesn’t plan on changing that. Beal is currently averaging 30.3 points per game, 4.4 rebounds, 6 assists and ices the cake with a 45% field goal percentage. In 2019-2020, Beal is averaging the best numbers of his career. Compared to his career stats, Beal has improved his numbers in points per game, minutes per game, field goal percentage, three throw percentage, assists and rebounds per game. This 6’3 stud is currently ranked second in the league behind James Harden who averages 34.9 points per game. When your name is in topic with players such as James Harden, Giannis Antetokounpo, and Luka Doncic, you deserve all the credit and recognition coming your way. 

In the month of February alone, Beal averaged 35.6 points per game (NBA Rank 1st), 26.4 field goals attempted per game (NBA Rank 1st), 12.4 field goals made per game (NBA rank 2nd) and 7.6 free throws made per game (NBA Rank tied 4th). Defenses just couldn’t find a solution for his talent. Beal also became the first NBA player to score 50 points on back to back nights since Kobe Bryant back in March 2007. The Washington Wizard guard scored a career high 55 points against the Milwaukee Bucks after torching the Chicago Bulls for 53 points the night before. Unfortunately, both games resulted in a loss. 

The Washington Wizards are currently 1-9 when Beal scores over 40 points. This stat is truly embarrassing and honestly doesn’t make any sense. I have never seen a team lose in the fashion the Washington Wizards do. Though this team is entertaining to say the least, their definition of being consistently inconsistent is a laughing stock to the whole league and viewers around the world. As a fan, I have many sleepless nights thinking about the mistakes this team makes. Granted, the Washington Wizards have been riddled with the injury bug. Players such has Bryant, Hachimura, Wagner, and Bertans have missed an extensive amount of games this season alongside John Wall who hasn’t played in total time of about 2 years. If I’m thinking with a glass half full, this team can truly make some noise next season. With Wall back, it takes some of the load off of Beal’s shoulders. This backcourt duo has made it to the playoffs before and plan to return in the 2020-2021 season. Beal’s actions show that he believes this as well. 

Back in October 2019, Beal ended a summer long wait that had fans biting their nails to the core by signing a two year extension worth $72 million with the Washington Wizards. This is the second extension Beal has signed with the Washington Wizards in his 7 years playing. This current contract gives him a player option to exercise the right to become a free agent in the summer of 2022. “This is where I’ve been for the seven years going on eight and I have an opportunity to turn this thing around”, says Beal. “It’s a beautiful market. I love it. I love D.C. This is where I’ve always wanted to be, and this is where I want to be for the rest of my career.”- Beal. What did we do to deserve a guy like this? 

Loyalty….what does it mean in the NBA? Is it worth it? Should a player ring chase? All these questions have no right or wrong answer. Ring chasing in the league has been a topic for the past decade and has seemed to transition into today’s game. Starting when LeBron joined the Heat back in 2010 to Kevin Durant’s shocking decision to join the Warriors in 2016. Yes, in these instances ring chasing proved to work but there are many cases where the results were not the same. For example, in 2013 the Brooklyn Nets tried to duplicate the 2008 Celtics (NBA Champions) but failed to do so ultimately disappointing fans, wasting money and future draft picks. In 2012, the Lakers suffered the same fate when trying to add Steve Nash and Dwight Howard to Kobe Bryant’s roster. When ring chasing goes well, you get a NBA championship along with many other accolades. When you ring chase and fail, your career and your respect from peers around the league takes a hit. At the end of the day, is it the players fault for not feeling comfortable with their current team? When your ultimate goal in your career is to obtain a championship, most are willing to do what ever it takes to do so. In some cases that means building around a star player and in others it means bringing multiple All-Star’s to one team.

Though Beal’s career has been up and down with the Wizards from all star snubs to losing in the first round of the NBA Playoffs back in 2017-2018. The Real Deal Brad Beal has shown nothing but loyalty to this organization. Is it worth it? Common NBA watchers would say no but as a fan of this organization, I beg to differ. Of course as a fan I would never want to see him leave but the 2020-2021 season will be a lot different and this team could be knocking on the door of a Conference Championship. John Wall is coming back from an achilles injury and has shown incredible progress through his workouts. John is back to dunking, running full sprints, and fully participating in team practices. This epic duo of John and Brad was once regarded has the most dangerous in the east and considered a top 5 duo in the surrounding league. The Washington Wizards also picked up a gem this past summer and he goes by the “Latvian Laser” aka Davis Bertans. Bertans has shown his ability to shoot from any where on the court at a lights out percentage. Though his shot can be streaky at times, he has done a solid job being able to shoot 4 or more 3 point field goals at a 40% 3 point field goal percentage. Bertans is not the only piece that was added this summer. Tommy Sheppard (Wizards GM) also gained Rui Hachimura in the 2019 NBA Draft and Moritz Wagner from the Los Angeles Lakers. Both players have shown tremendous growth with no cap to their talent. With this amount of talent on the roster, I think the Washington Wizards organization has one more year to show what they can do. If the Wizards cannot get it to together in 2020-2021, it would be in Beal’s best interest to leave.