Bradley Beal is having a career year with the Washington Wizards. He's fourth in the NBA in points per game (29.6) with a career-high assist rate of 6.0 dimes per game. Yet, his hefty production has been for naught.

The Wizards' historically bad defense (league-worst 115.2 DefRtg) has negated Beal's best offensive performances all season long, including his career-high 53-point showing in Sunday's loss to the Chicago Bulls.

Frustrations seemed to boil over in Chicago. The Wizards trailed by as many as 25 points to a Chicago Bulls team that had lost eight in a row and surrendered 73 points in the first half. Beal competed hard for nearly the entire fourth quarter, scoring 21 of his 53 points in the period to make the score respectable.

The loss dropped Washington to 1-7 this season in games Beal scores 40 or more points.

Beal said before the All-Star break that he had to set a better example, from his energy, body language, overall approach and mindset. Well, his visible displeasure on Sunday probably isn't exactly what he meant.

Afterwards, Wizards head coach Scott Brooks called out his team, saying that they are “playing soft” and are too “comfortable” without a sense of urgency.

Beal didn't shy away from the blame, however.

“Coach is absolutely right. I think the last two games, we didn’t show any resistance on the defensive end. None of us. So it just comes done to how bad we really want to make this push…You can throw all 53 of those away if we don’t have a [win] next to it.”

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Beal's priorities are admirable and his ire is understandable. His team's poor play out of the break has only compounded his frustration after the Wizards' losing ways kept him off the All-Star team.

Behind Beal, the Wizards' offense has been quietly respectable this season: 13th in Offensive Rating. He's averaging 35.6 points per game over his past 10. His field goal percentage is slightly down on the season, but he is shooting more than ever and his 33.9 percent usage rate is easily a career-high and sixth in the NBA.

Any momentum the Wizards may have built by winning five of seven games before the All-Star break has been halted by losses to Chicago and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. Remarkably, at 20-35, they sit only 3.5 games behind the Orlando Magic for the East's no. 8 seed—though it's hard to see this young roster coalescing and giving enough support (and defense) to mount a playoff push.

Bradley Beal signed a two-year, $72 million extension in October and committed to the rebuild, and the Capital City franchise would probably prefer to see what the team looks like after John Wall returns rather than deal Beal over the summer. However, the optics of Beal's frustrations can't be a welcoming sight for Wizards fans nor their front office.