The Washington Wizards are sitting just outside of the play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference, but the rest of their season has just been dealt a huge blow.
Wizards star shooting guard Bradley Beal has been out since January 29th since suffering an injury to his left wrist. As per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski Tuesday, Beal will now undergo surgery on his injured wrist that will end his season.
Washington Wizards All-Star guard Bradley Beal plans to undergo season-ending surgery on his left wrist, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2022
This injury is a crushing blow to the Wizards. Beal has been averaging 23.2 points per game so far this season while playing 36 minutes per game for the team.
Here are some reactions to the unfortunate news on the Wizards’ shooting guard.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Bradley Beal has played his final game with the Wizards. Are we sure Washington wants to give the supermax: 5 years/$240M? Are we sure Beal would rather stay there instead of a winner for 4/$180M? Plenty of contenders will try to sign-and-trade for him. https://t.co/dcLjfkBQjl
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) February 8, 2022
Things can always get worse! https://t.co/9ZI77FN3xj
— Nathalie Baptiste (@nhbaptiste) February 8, 2022
Bottom out and go get Chet/Paolo/Jabari. That's all we need to see. https://t.co/a70RiDNYeI
— Michael Sykes, II (@MikeDSykes) February 8, 2022
Wizards need a legit wizard to help their franchise https://t.co/NBgim5M5Fo
— 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 (@exavierpope) February 8, 2022
This injury could open the floodgates for potential moves for the Wizards before the end of the trade deadline.
You would presume that they now feel that they are in sell mode going forward for the rest of this season, and there is now debate amongst Wizard fans on which players could be on the move.
Hm. Wonder if the Mavericks try to swap Dinwiddie and Timmy. https://t.co/pIvu2hNmeY
— Kirk Henderson (@KirkSeriousFace) February 8, 2022
Can I interest anyone in a lightly used Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, or literally anyone else on the roster https://t.co/MaHmzvG3km
— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) February 8, 2022
kuzma, montrezl, and kcp for westbrook part 2 https://t.co/L7DxGnynbi
— Michael Pina (@MichaelVPina) February 8, 2022
This injury could also spell the end of Bradley Beal in Washington. Beal has an option to return to the team for one more year in his contract, but could opt out to pursue a team with a true second option available in the offseason.
Beal already declined an extension back in January to resign with the team, wanting to keep his options open for the offseason. Now it looks like Beal will have plenty of time on the bench to consider how he wants his future to look like going forward after this devastating injury.