So far in the season, for better or for worse, Bradley Beal has struggled mightily to stay on the floor for the Washington Wizards. This has made grading how good this team actually is incredibly difficult as Beal is a multi-faceted player who impacts the game in many different ways.
Beal has been on and off the basketball court all season with a variety of injuries, but lately he has had two hamstring injuries that have been bothering him. He has been out a majority of games since the beginning of December. He also went through health and safety protocols in November before injuring his thigh.
On the bright side, he has been cleared to return to basketball activities. Not much, but it’s something for Wizards fans to cheer for.
Injury update: Bradley Beal has been cleared to resume full basketball activities after undergoing a re-evaluation of his low-grade left hamstring strain. His return to play will be based on his progression. pic.twitter.com/JbfPklSyCy
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) January 12, 2023
There is something about the Washington Wizards giving a max contract and the player immediately getting hurt.
From Otto Porter Jr to John Wall, players that receive max contracts from the Washington Wizards don’t seem to stay healthy. Bradley Beal recently has been no exception playing 60 or less games in three consecutive seasons and is on track for a fourth. Last season was especially bad as he only played 40 games.
When Otto Porter was given his massive rookie contract extension as a byproduct of the huge cap increase that we saw in 2016, he almost immediately started racking up missed games. Although, much of this was with the Chicago Bulls, he is still a player who received a major deal from the Wiz and was never again healthy.
Speaking of the 2016 cap spike, Ian Mahinmi even received a huge pay day from the Wizards. He only played more than 38 games for the team in one of his four seasons in DC and never had a season with even 10 points per game in his career.
Gilbert Arenas was also a max player for the Wizards after his breakout season in the 2004-’05 season. However, in his last few seasons he struggled to stay on the floor from a variety of injuries and bringing a gun into the locker room.
Does he even need to be mentioned? John Wall is probably the most tragic example of the Washington Wizards max contract curse. In his last three season with the Wiz, Wall only played 73 games. In his two seasons with the Houston Rockets, he played 40, and now with the Los Angeles Clippers, he is a far cry from who he once was.
Even the great Michael Jordan saw time on the injury report with the Wiz. In his first season in DC, he missed 22 games and even came off the bench in a few of the games he did play. While injuries never kept him out of any games in his second season, they did restrict him to the bench for 15 games. He may have been the same age as LeBron James at the time, but it’s hard to imagine Jordan coming off the bench happily.
The only exception to the Wizards curse was Antawn Jamison who made two All-Star games and never played less than 68 games in any of his four full seasons with the team.
Bradley Beal is on track to becoming the next player caught up in the Washington Wizards web of injuries. This season has not exactly been reassuring.