Near the end of last season, Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks asked All-Star shooting guard Bradley Beal if he wanted to rest and sit out games since the Wizards had already been eliminated from the playoffs.
According to Brooks, Beal said it was his job to play no matter what because he was the leader of the Wizards with All-Star guard John Wall hurt and out.
“I mean, we were going nowhere at the end of the season pretty fast,” Brooks told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. “And I'm like, ‘Brad, you know what, I appreciate everything you've given me the last couple of years. And this year we're not making the playoffs, we're out. You want to like chill out the last couple of weeks and rest? And he said, ‘You know what, I signed up to be the leader of this team and do it every night.' And he wanted to do that, and he wanted to play every game and that's why he played for two years in a row already too.”
Beal played in all 82 games last season, the second straight year he didn't miss a game after playing in 82 games during the 2017-18 season. The Wizards' best player is starting to put his injury history behind him.
Beal averaged 25.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists for the Wizards last season while shooting 47.5 percent from the field, 35.1 percent beyond the arc and 80.8 percent from the free-throw line. He finished with 2,099 points, 411 rebounds and 448 assists.
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