The Washington Wizards is a team with lofty expectations for the season, hoping to win the Kevin Durant sweepstakes.
They were a team that broke through in last year's playoffs with two rising stars (who also claimed to be the best backcourt in the league) and a solid veteran center. That seems like a team Durant would consider especially since it's his hometown team.
Now that the team is struggling to make the playoffs, they should probably stop hoping, and they may even let go of their own free agent, Bradley Beal. He had some strong criticism towards his teammates which he shared with J. Michael of CSN Mid Atlantic.
"We didn't have any sense of urgency. To me it felt like we just gave up," Beal said. "We're just not hungry enough. I guess we kind of figure we're already in the playoffs for some reason. It's either that or we just want to get to the offseason. As far as why I have no idea. If guys don't want to play they need to sit down."
Beal reportedly had heated exchanges with his teammates, particularly Nene.
Beal continued: "We bark too much. We say what we need to do. We scream at one another. We can even try to blame Witt if we want to but at the end of the day we still the ones playing. We still beat ourselves. We do dumb stuff on the floor like just not having a man in transition or not knowing where a guy is at half court or not knowing personnel. We just do dumb mental lapses that just mess up the game and end up hurting us in the long run. Everybody is a grown ass man, you either want to play or you don't."
As NBC noted, the Wizards, similar to the Chicago Bulls, are developing factions within the team. Beal defended Coach Randy Wittman, whom Marcin Gortat publicly criticized. Wittman is rumored to be on the hot seat and depending on where the other players stand, Beal might lose favor with the front office.
The former Florida standout is a restricted free agent which means the team can still control his destiny by matching any offer. The team and Beal held off any extension talks to make sure they had available cap space for Kevin Durant, but that may be moot now.
The main takeaway is that the Wizards may shake up the roster and the certainty that Beal will stay in Washington seems a bit blurred at this point.