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Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal is questionable for Monday night's game against the Miami Heat after missing Saturday's game against the New York Knicks, according to Tim Reynolds of the AP:
For the Wizards tomorrow, Bradley Beal is questionable. Davis Bertans and Rui Hachimura remain out, among many other Wizards.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) December 29, 2019
Beal had a consecutive games streak of 194 snapped when he missed Saturday's game, and the Wizards could very well hold him out of future contests given that the streak is over.
Fred Katz of The Athletic speculated that Washington might elect to pursue a more cautious route with respect to Beal's usage in light of this most recent injury:
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But now that the streak is dead, we must ask the question: Do some of those occasional “DNP — load management” lines start filtering over to Washington?
Part, though not all, of the reasoning behind playing Beal all 82 games last year was out of respect for the streak itself. Beal has talked about it time and time again. After the public slapped the “injury-prone” label on him early in his career, when he dealt with stress reactions in his leg, the two-time All-Star wanted to play as many games in a row as he could.
Katz also noted that Beal hates the theory of load management. But the Wizards, already decimated by a number of injuries, cannot afford to run their star into the ground, particularly considering their record (9-22) as well as the fact that John Wall is unlikely to return this season. Wall has been dealing with a torn Achilles since last December.
Beal will likely do everything in his power to return to the rotation on Monday night. But his status bears watching moving forward especially in light of the two-year, $72 million contract extension he signed with the Wizards back in October. He had been set to become a free agent in the summer of 2021.
