Washington Wizards: 3 Reasons Bradley Beal was snubbed from the 2020 All-Star Game

The Washington Wizards Aren’t Winning

The All-Star Game isn’t the playoffs. And by that, I mean your team doesn’t have to have a winning record for you to qualify as an All-Star. At least in theory. But in reality, it always helps your case if your team is in contention, all other things being equal.

The Wizards, however, aren’t winning. They’re losing. They’re losing a lot. And they’re losing badly. As Beal’s scoring averages suggest, the Wizards aren’t losing because they can’t score. After 47 games, they actually have the 9th best Offensive Rating in the NBA, per Baksetball-Reference. They just have the WORST Defensive Rating.

This season, the Wizards are giving up some absurd point totals to their opponents. Four of the season’s top-six non-overtime point totals have been reached against the Wizards.

And although Beal is putting in WORK on the offensive end, his defensive numbers aren’t great. The only regular playing Wizard with a worse defensive rating than Beal is Isaiah Thomas and, well, he’s Isaiah Thomas.

According to NBA.com, Beal ranks 490th among 494 qualified players in Defensive Win Shares.

Defensive stats like that don’t exactly paint an All-Star picture for Beal, and the 16-31 record certainly doesn’t help either, especially in a year when the coaches seem to be rewarding winning.

Eleven of the twelve Eastern Conference All-Stars come from the top six teams in the East.

Trae Young, the Eastern Conference fan vote winner, is the only Eastern Conference All-Star on a team with a losing record.

But in Beal’s defense, this Washington Wizards roster wasn’t built to win. At least not this year. And the constant injury carousel hasn’t helped. Should Beal be forced to pay for that?