Not all rosy for NBA's top scorer

Beal remains pillar of power as Wizards skid

WASHINGTON • Bradley Beal has taken on a second role with the Washington Wizards of late.

The all-star guard not only leads the NBA in scoring with 35.4 points per game, oftentimes operating as Washington's only fount of offence. He is also now the team's chief meme creator.

Video clips and pictures of Beal's dejected body language after the Wizards' past two games have gone viral. The first, after a loss in Houston, was of Beal holding his head in his hands. The second, after Wednesday's loss in New Orleans dropped the team's record to 3-11, was of the guard staring into the abyss with his arms splayed wide on the bench.

Each new photo spawns a torrent of online trade chatter and is usually accompanied by the 27-year-old's preposterous numbers. Wednesday's stat du jour was that Beal set the record for most consecutive losses (10) in 40-point games after he poured in 47 in the Wizards' 124-106 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

“I've got to be better with that,” Beal said of his lategame body language. “I mean, the media's going to blow it up — I'm mad about losing. If I'm sitting over there laughing and smiling, what is the media going to say then? Like, `Oh, he doesn't take it seriously?' I just hate losing. I hate losing. And I'm going to continue to show pissed-off faces. I try to control them as much as I can, but. I don't like losing.”

Meme talk aside, Beal was as frank Wednesday as he's been all season about his frustrations being a top scorer on a poorly performing team for two seasons in a row. The short-handed Wizards have the worst record in the league with Atlanta and then high-scoring Brooklyn and Portland as their next three opponents.

The guard was adamant the group not sink into a “3-11 mentality” given that they are missing six players because of the league's COVID-19 protocol and have only recently resumed their season after a two-week coronavirus pause.

But, Beal said, the reality is inescapable. The guard is under contract through the 2021-22 season and he has been clear for months that the organization needs to do just one thing to keep him around — show him it can win.

Limited time on court this year hasn't affected Beal's play. He's logged a 60-point performance and two 40-point bouts in 2021, all in losses. In his last six games — of which the Wizards have won one — he's averaged 41 points on 50 per cent shooting from the field while taking 30 shots a night.