Bradley Beal, his agent sound off on All-Star snub: ‘It’s disrespectful’
Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal was not selected to be an All-Star this season, and was left off the list of All-Star reserves that were revealed on Thursday afternoon.
He’s not happy about it, either.
The 26-year-old made that more than clear after Washington’s 121-107 win against the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night.
"I'm a little pissed off about it, but I know how I am,” Beal said, via NBC Sports Washington. “I was kind of expecting it, honestly. It’s disrespectful, but the real ones know. I’ll just keep competing. I’m going to try to get my team in the playoffs for sure.”
Though the Wizards are just 16-31 and are sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, Beal is having a tremendous year personally.
He’s averaged a career-high 28.6 points, 6.3 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game while playing more than 35 minutes per contest headed into Thursday’s game. His scoring average ranks third in the Eastern Conference, too.
“He was [snubbed],” teammate Thomas Bryant said, via ESPN. “Hands down, 100 percent. This should be unexplainable. He should be a shoo-in. It’s just not right.”
Beal’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, didn’t hold back on the subject, either. Had Beal decided to leave the Wizards for another team, Bartelstein said, he would’ve been an All-Star for sure.
“It’s unprecedented for a player to have the type of season that Brad is having to not be in the All-Star game,” Bartelstein said, via Candace Buckner of the Washington Post. “And I think the Eastern Conference coaches, I think they’ve sent a horrible message.
“I think the Eastern Conference coaches have become robotic in thinking they just have to reward players that are on the winningest teams … He could’ve made the choice to be a bandwagon jumper and just go on and join a higher-level team and he would’ve been guaranteed in the All-Star game. But he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to be loyal to his organization and the coaches in the NBA are holding it against Brad that he was loyal to his organization.”
Beal’s fiancee even got in on the action, too.
Kamiah Adams, Bradley Beal’s finacee, went on the Wizards postgame show with Glenn Consor to talk Beal not making All-Star.
"It’s politics and it’s a joke,” she said. "The NBA is becoming laughable in my honest opinion." pic.twitter.com/UiG0LyZw3L— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) January 31, 2020
Instead, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Ben Simmons, Khris Middleton, Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo and Domas Sabonis were selected as reserves players from the Eastern Conference. Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Brandon Ingram, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul got the nod in the West. LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two team captains, will hold the draft on Feb. 6, 10 days before the game is due to take place in Chicago.
While Beal and his agent may be rather upset, Beal said he isn’t going to let the noise get to him.
At the end of the day, he’s just happy to be playing basketball.
“I don’t play for anybody else’s approval,” Beal said, via NBC Sports Washington. “I come out and compete because with these god-given talents and abilities, I wouldn’t be on this floor. I’m just thankful I’m out here and I can compete.”
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