All is not well for the Washington Wizards. John Wall and Bradley Beal are one of the NBA’s best backcourts when both are healthy and clicking. However, Beal has been injury-prone thus far through his short pro career. There are apparently some chemistry issues between the two guards as well, Wall told CSN Mid-Atlantic:
“I think a lot of times we have a tendency to dislike each other on the court. … We got to be able to put that to the side. If you miss somebody on one play or don’t have something go right … as long as you come to each other and talk. If I starting arguing with somebody I’m cool. I’m just playing basketball,”
Wall spoke more about Beal, who signed a five-year max deal worth $128 million with the Wizards this offseason:
“Now that you have your money you got to go out there and improve your game. I want you to be an All-Star just as much as I’m an All-Star. If we were playing well as a tandem like the other two superstars that play together as a backcourt, play as a tandem, one night it’s going to be his night, one night it’s going to be mine, some nights it might be both of us. Those are nights it’s going to be tough to beat us.”
Since the backcourt has played together for four years, there’s a tendency to asume that they’re best friends. But they don’t spend much time together outside of Verizon Center and they have had to be separated on more than one occasion after blowups.
Beal added his two cents on the relationship between the two guards:
“It’s tough because we’re both alphas. It’s always tough when you have two guys who firmly believe in themselves, who will bet on themselves against anybody else, who want to be that guy. We both can be that guy,” Beal said.
“Sometimes I think we both lose sight of the fact that we need each other. I wouldn’t be in the situation I’m in without John. John wouldn’t be in the situation he’s in without me, without the rest of the team. It goes hand-in-hand so it’s kind of a pride thing. We got to (hash) out our pride, fiigure out what our goals are individually, help each other achieve those goals, figure out what our team goal is, where do we see ourselves five years from now, 10 years from now and go from there.”
The fact that the Wizards’ two franchise players have a strained relationship is a worrying issue. The Wizards took a bit of a step backwards last season, going from 46 wins in 2014-15 to 41 wins in 2015-16, and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012-13.
