Former Wizards Star Draws Unfair Comparisons

This stray awakened countless Bradley Beal defenders, a brand of Wizards fan who's had little reason to stick up for their departed franchise star recently.

Beal's had it tougher than he anticipated since leaving Washington for Phoenix, failing to win a single playoff game in two years with the Suns and missing the playoffs entirely this postseason. A Phoenix coach has been fired for every season he's been there, and his current score-first skillset has been unhelpful enough to lose him the starting lineup spot he's had guaranteed since he entered the league.

His ugly final years as a Wizard and the disappointment that is the Phoenix Suns have evidently colored his impressive resume, throwing him into Jalen Green talks despite the young Rocket showing no indication he can reach the various levels Beal hit in his prime.

He made multiple All-Star teams as John Wall's sidekick in the mid-2010s, offering a high-level 3&D option with patience and creativity as a midrange scorer. He started to take the reins from Wall as the lead play-finisher in their latter days together on competing teams, really coming into his own during Washington's 2017 playoff run as the guy who was most willing to challenge Boston's Isaiah Thomas in a duel.

Beal's game transitioned to high-stakes situations, a forgotten detail in how his story is remembered.

Beal entered another phase of his career shortly after Wall was phased out by injuries and, later, a trade, with the Wizards bringing in Russell Westbrook as another star facilitator. The shooting guard averaged 30+ points per game on 60% true shooting in his lone season alongside Westbrook, just as he had alone in 2019-20.

He netted three All-Star team appearances and a Third Team All-NBA nod in 2021, reaching heights that few 6'3, score-first guards can touch. That's where Jalen Green's officially been priced out, as he currently offers little in the way of developing into that kind of multidimensional player.

Maybe, if Green ever learns how to shoot and finish with pace and comfort, he may one day devlop into a productive guard, but he's got a long way to go as it stands. Beal, for his part, has done little to endear himself to Phoenix and even Washington after his strange final years, but that's no reason to forget what he was.