Washington Wizards: With Wall Out, Beal Has Chance to Grow Even More
Can Washington Wizards Bradley Beal steer the Wizards in the right direction with John Wall out significant time with a left knee injury?
Washington Wizards guard John Wall has been dealing with a lingering left knee injury after just 10 games into the season in the Wizards’ embarrassing loss at home to the Dallas Mavericks. Despite ongoing knee pain and swelling, Wall still managed to average 19.4 points and 9.3 assists for his fifth All-Star selection.
But after 37 games, Wall’s season comes to a sudden halt. Now, with left knee procedure scheduled Wednesday in Cleveland, the Wizards will be without Wall for 6-to-8 weeks, per The Washington Post’s Candance Buckner. To add to Buckner’s reports, Wall didn’t want to wait until the All-Star break to undergo knee procedure with hopes of returning during the playoffs.
On top of that, Wall will miss the 2018 All-Star game as the NBA decides on Detriot Pistons Center Andre Drummond as the All-Star replacement. Other candidates to replace Wall was rookie phenom Ben Simmons and Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets.
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The Wizards ARE NOT better off without Wall in the lineup. However, it’s intriguing to see what All-Star Bradley Beal has in store as Beal takes over as the focal point of the Wizards offense. Even more, Beal gets the chance to gain valuable experience as the team’s leader.
In the nine-game stretch earlier this season when Wall first experienced left knee soreness, Bradley Beal averaged 23.8 points, almost identical to his season average, along with 42.5 percent from the field.
Most noteworthy, Beal scored a career-high 51 points in the Wizards’ 14-point victory on the road against the Portland Trailblazers.
The injury also comes in the midst of Beal’s best basketball of his career. In the last 10 games, Beal’s seen improvements in points (24.5), field goal percentage (49 percent), 3-point field goal percentage (38.8 percent), blocks (0.5) and arguably best of all assists (4.4).
Next: Would a Trade for All-Star DeAndre Jordan Work for Wizards?
As a team, the Wizards recorded a season-high 40 assists without their leading assist player, Wall. Above all, the Wizards were about as efficient you can get as HoppsStats.com calculates another season-best 172 efficiency rating.