The Washington Wizards have been an absolute mess this season, and on Monday night, the world finally saw it spill over. During a recent practice, several Wizards’ players got into verbal altercations with one another, hurling profane comments to head coach Scott Brooks and team president Ernie Grunfeld, according to the Washington Post’s Candace Buckner.
According to several people who witnessed the contentious practice Thursday, an on-court confrontation between John Wall and Jeff Green broke out, and so did another between Bradley Beal and Austin Rivers. In the aftermath of those respective spats, Wall directed an expletive at Brooks and Beal erupted about Grunfeld.
Multiple people who are familiar with what happened described the scene as normal during a long and grueling NBA season. They also expressed unequivocally the arguments did not turn physical and that players hashed out their differences afterward and expressed regret for growing heated in the moment.
“This is embarrassing,” a person familiar with the team said. “This is crazy.”
Wall, the five-time all-star, and Green got into it. Green, who has attempted to be a vocal leader within the Wizards locker room since signing with the team this past summer, challenged Wall, which led to the players exchanging words.
When Brooks tried to mitigate the situation, Wall did not appreciate a coach’s interference into a player-to-player talk. Brooks told Wall to get off the court, and Wall responded by yelling back that he was already off the court. Then, according to several people, Wall told his head coach, “F— you!”
Later, Beal, still fired up, went off about the current culture within the organization. According to people who heard Beal’s tirade, Beal yelled something to the effect of, “I’m sick of this s—.” Beal also gestured toward Grunfeld, who was sitting on the far baseline, and said he has been dealing with it for seven years and that, “It starts at the top.”
According to Buckner, several altercations broke out at Thursday’s practice after the Wizards’ three-game winning streak. Starting point guard John Wall and Jeff Green reportedly got into an on-court altercation which Scott Brooks got in-between and was met by an “F— You” from John Wall. This is what led to the team ultimately fining Wall for his explicative toward Brooks.
According to sources, John Wall and Jeff Green also got into it and their player-on-player verbal altercation led to Coach Scott Brooks trying to intervene and that’s when Wall hurled an expletive at the coach.
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) November 20, 2018
Bradley Beal and newly-acquired Austin Rivers also got into a verbal non-violent altercation, which led to Beal yelling “I’m sick of this s—.” Beal also gestured toward the team’s president Ernie Grunfeld, commenting “It starts at the top.”
On Saturday, the #Wizards had this heated practice in which Bradley Beal and Austin Rivers had a verbal altercation.
Beal grew heated and gestured toward Pres Ernie Grunfeld, and said something along the lines ‘It starts at the top.’
More details coming.
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) November 20, 2018
Since the heated practice, the Wizards have lost two games to the Brooklyn Nets and Portland Trailblazers. The Wizards are 5-11 on the season, with upcoming games against the Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors and New Orleans Pelicans.
