Wizards guard Bradley Beal is out for the rest of the 2021/22 season after undergoing wrist surgery and can opt out of his contract this summer. However, president of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard remains confident that Beal hasn’t played his last game with the franchise.
“I believe Bradley is going to be here moving forward,” Sheppard told reporters on Friday (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington). “… Certainly we plan on him being here in the future. If he feels otherwise, he will let us know.”
Multiple reports in recent weeks, both before and after Beal’s injury, have stated that the Wizards remain committed to offering the star guard a five-year contract if he turns down his player option in the offseason.
Here are a few more Wizards notes:
- The Wizards’ point guard depth took a hit on Thursday when the team traded away Spencer Dinwiddie and Aaron Holiday just six months after acquiring them. Ish Smith and Raul Neto are handling point guard duties in the short term, but Sheppard said today that upgrading the position will be a priority for the club heading into 2022/23. “That’s our focus for sure in the offseason,” Sheppard said (Twitter link via Hughes).
- The Wizards’ acquisition of Kristaps Porzingis was the “ultimate high-risk, high-reward move,” Josh Robbins writes for The Athletic. Discussing the move today, Sheppard said, “You can’t be afraid to take big swings” (Twitter link via Robbins).
- Porzingis missed the Mavericks’ last five games due to a right knee bone bruise, but Sheppard expects the big man to be available soon, tweets Hughes. It’s possible Porzingis could make his Wizards debut as soon as Saturday.
- Wizards assistant coach Mike Batiste was suspended two games without pay by the NBA for entering the stands in an attempt to confront a fan, the NBA announced on Thursday (via Twitter). The incident took place near the end of the team’s loss to Miami on Monday (video link). Batiste served the first game of his suspension on Thursday vs. Brooklyn and will serve the second on Saturday vs. Sacramento.
DC (or SA) might be the biggest winner from the deadline other than Brooklyn. They get a big time player in KP & rebalance their roster pretty perfectly while not giving up any of their core guys. Deni is gonna get a golden opportunity to handle the ball way more w/ Brad/Dinwiddie/AHoliday all gone. They obv still need to get a pg this off-season (again). But that should be doable. Schroeder & Brunson will be available in free agency. Brogdon & hometown legend Markelle Fultz could be available on the trade market & a reunion with franchise great John Wall would definitely get the fan base hype. Plus their frontcourt is just so dynamic now. KP, TBryant & Gafford are really good trio of bigs too have. Rui, Kuz, Deni & Kispert are a strong group of forwards too. If they handle their pg vacancy half as well as Phoenix did a few yrs ago we could see DC as title contenders for the 1st time since Wes Unseld Sr was in uniform
What do you mean other than Brooklyn?
They got a great return for Sixers got a great deal too. We are 2.5 games off first in the east and that’s been without Ben Simmons and all his issues. Yes we lose Curry but we add Harfen and Millsap. That’s a huge upgrade.
The rest of Harden’s career isn’t gonna be as spectacular & productive as his career so far. He’ll still be great for a few more seasons but Ben has a good decade of his prime left, plus the numerous picks & Brooklyn getting an extremely cheap beast (Drummond) at their weakest position, the 5. Philly did good to actually/finally trade Ben but Brooklyn definitely got the better return
He’s going to decline? You don’t say…
Ben will be interesting to see return. A good decade of prime? Prime what? He’s not a normal starting player. Presumably you can hide his lack of shooting next to KD. But are all his struggles forgotten? You think he’s no longer going to get embarrassed for not having a shot, not wanting to shoot, and being a liability in that department?
Perhaps all he ever needed in his life was some KD and Blake Griffin in his ear. Or maybe this team struggles to win and he’ll feel all the pressure of it. Who knows what Brooklyn players will be healthy, primed and ready to go.
DC should look to sign Dragic if he reaches a buyout. No harm in it.
Wiz could also pick up Schroder after Houston buys him out