3. Can we keep Bradley Beal happy?
In January, Bradley Beal announced his displeasure at this team losing. It took most fans and media members by surprise, because it seemed clear to the Washington Wizards faithful that this year was all about development, and less about winning.
Sure, winning would be nice, but without John Wall the prospects for the end of the season weren’t exactly the most promising. We all had assumed that Beal would be on board with helping the young guys on the squad out and biding our time until our superstar returned.
But then this happened:
Well, there goes the plan. To the Wizards’ credit, they listened, and they’ve been playing their veterans more minutes and getting wins, nagging 5 out of the 7 games they played before the all-star break.
The trade deadline probably didn’t do them any wonders in their relationship with Beal, either, shipping out Jordan McRae for teammates that have been playing well but not quite to the level McRae was providing the shorthanded Wizards squad.
Beal has responded to all the criticism by casually being a top-5 scorer in the entire NBA. It’s clear the Wizards need to keep him happy if the plan is to play for a championship next season. The question is, can they do it by staying competitive while being forward-thinking at the same time and focusing on development?