Despite all the news stating otherwise, Washington Wizards‘ backcourt duo John Wall and Bradley Beal insisted that there's no feud between them and they are on the same page, ready to lead their team this season.
Both of them have been consistent with their statements and are claiming the same thing. It can be recalled that Wall even tweeted a photo of them last month and referring to their relationship as “brothers.”
No bad blood this my Brother !! Let the good times roll now let's Rock and Roll !! #WizSquad #WallWay pic.twitter.com/eKMKxlnapk
— John Wall (@JohnWall) September 27, 2016
Although they admitted to having some differences on the court, they blamed it on the fact that they are both naturally competitive people and only want to bring out the best in each other, but beyond that, they have no other issues. Per The Washington Post:
“Whenever you have your two best players and they both want the game-winning shot and they want those types of plays, you’re going to have disagreements on the court. But other than that, we’re fine,” Wall said. “We talk. We’ve talked about it. We’re both two grown men. Everybody wants us to dislike each other. No, we don’t dislike each other. It’s just at times any team that has two great players [or] players who want to be great, we’re going to have disagreements from time to time.”
Beal echoed his teammate's take and had this to say in a recent interview with Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press:
“We both realize that that's what's important here: us winning games, us being leaders of a team and us growing as a backcourt together. I'm going to be here another five years; he's going to be here for hopefully the rest of his career, as well. We have a great system, a great team, our chemistry's great. Me and John are fine, and we're going to be in the rankings of the best backcourts.”
If they want to lead the Wizards back to the playoffs, it's a no-brainer that they must co-exist and feed off one another. Wall and Beal are expected to share the basketball and make each other better on the court. This was emphasized by their head coach, Scott Brooks, as he talked about each one's importance to the franchise.
“You still want to play with a chip on your shoulder. Every team has talent and every team has a lot of skilled players, but when you have a guy like Brad and John, you want that. You want that in them. That's what gets them going.”
“With Brad, people want to put words in your mouth and make it seem like it's worse than what it was. Nah. We all knew Brad was going to get paid a certain contract and he deserves it. All I said is the same thing I did — when I got paid, everybody said oh I didn't deserve it. We just got to go and prove it.
“I think when he's healthy, he's proven that he can play in this league. He can be an all-star, he can be one of the best two-way players.”
Both of them are healthy to start the season and are looking to string together a few wins early on to kick start their campaign. The Wizards have shown their commitment to the dynamic duo given their hefty paychecks, and now the ball is on their court to prove they are worth their salaries.
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