The Washington Wizards are just 3-7 in their past ten games after a 13-8 start that had them as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Now sitting as the six-seed in the East, the Wizards are reeling a bit and won't be let off the hook at all by Thursday's news that their best player, Bradley Beal, would be entering the NBA's health and safety protocols.

The NBA is closing in on updating said rules with the NBPA to lessen the quarantine period for players who test positive for COVID-19. The new rules could knock the current 10-day quarantine period down to just six days. That means Beal is out for Thursday's game at the New York Knicks, their December 26th home game against the Philadelphia 76ers, their December 28th road game at the Miami Heat, and possibly a few more. The Wizards are also coming off of a postponement of their last game due to the COVID outbreak on the Brooklyn Nets.

For the year, Beal is averaging just 23.3 points–his lowest total since 2015–and it can mainly be attributed to the loss of his three-point shot. Despite hitting his career averages at the free-throw line (82 percent) and from the field (45 percent), Beal has struggled to hit his three's this year. He is a career 37 percent three-point shooter but is hitting just 28 percent of his three's in 2021. Perhaps the time off will improve long-range his shots…they can't get much worse and he knows that.