Washington Wizards: 4 most impactful players for playoff push

4. Bradley Beal

Okay, hear me out. I know you’re going to say, “But Keith, the guy has scored 40+ points nine times this season. He’s absolutely unstoppable.”

And you’d be correct. Beal is on an incredible tear this season, producing points at an elite level only just shy of James Harden and tied with Trae Young for second in the entire league currently in points per game.

But, the Washington Wizards are 1-8 when Beal scores 40 or more points, and they are 3-2 when he dishes out 10 or more assists. Crazy, right?

I’m not saying he’s being a ball hog, but Bradley Beal needs to learn, like many super talented athletes, that this is a team game. He needs to enable his teammates to make good basketball plays in order to make a push for the playoffs this year and to give us a chance to be something special later on.

How will Jerome Robinson grow if he never touches the rock? How will Troy Brown or Isaac Bonga for that matter? They can’t, they won’t, and it’s on Beal to become more of a leader on the floor than just a flat-out scorer.

When John Wall eventually comes back, he can resume that role. And he can do it with ease, as is apparent by his most recent scoring output. But for right now, and for the sake of the franchise in general, he needs to exercise some patience and try to get his entire team involved.

If Beal can swallow his pride and do that, we might just find ourselves in the playoffs this year too.