NBA's top scorer not having fun
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, often operating as Washington's only fount of offence; he is also 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 late-game 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 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.