Just how good has Bradley Beal been for the Washington Wizards this season? Better than you realized, probably.
There haven’t been many bright spots during this NBA season for the Washington Wizards, but there has been Bradley Beal. After seasons of trade speculation surrounding the Wizards’ All-Star shooting guard, the Wizards have stuck to their guns and stuck with Beal over the years. During a rough 4-12 start, the trade rumors and calls from fans to blow it all up may have never been louder. But every night, Beal rewards this franchise for their loyalty by putting up sensational stat line after sensational stat line. The Wizards may have known the best was always yet to come from Bradley Beal but did anyone have him becoming this type of an unstoppable scoring machine?
The Wizards may not be a winning team yet, but that’s not Bradley Beal’s fault. He’s on a level that we rarely see. Maybe all the losses have blinded you from realizing just how good Beal was through the first half of the season. So I’m here to remind you.
These days, a Beal trade feels as unlikely as ever, and for good reason. When you have a player of this caliber on your roster, you do everything you can to keep him here, especially when he wants to be here.
Here are four stats that show just how excellent Bradley Beal was during the first half of the season.
Bradley Beal leads the NBA with 22 games of at least 30 points
30-point games have become “normal” for Bradley Beal. And that’s not normal. Scoring totals that would be season or even career highs for most are just another night in the office for Beal.
At the All-Star break, Beal led the NBA with 22 games of at least 30 points despite the Wizards playing fewer games than everyone but the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies. At this pace, Beal will finish the season with 47 games of at least 30 points. If the NBA were playing a full 82-game season, he would be on pace for 53 such games.
Not only would that shatter Beal’s own record for 30-point games in a season (31 during the 19-20 season), but 47 30-point games would be more than any other Wizards player. Gilbert Arenas currently holds that title with 42 games of at least 30 points during the 2005-06 season. And even in a shortened season, Beal could finish with the most 30-point games in franchise history this season.
Beal didn’t hit the 30-point plateau in the team’s first post-All-Star break game, a 127-112 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. But if he can cross that scoring threshold 29 more times in the final 37 games, he’ll tie the record Walt Bellamy set in 1962 when he finished with 51 30-pointers.