Bradley Beal's bold 2017 claim will raise LeBron James' eyebrow
Today at 08:48 PM
The Washington Wizards have had one division title since 1980, which came in the 2017 season. Former Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal recollected that season, which saw the Wiz losing in seven games to the Boston Celtics. While on the Run Your Race Podcast, Beal talked about how his Wizards team would’ve proved to be a better matchup against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“The 2017 team. We talk about it all the time. The Cleveland dudes were like ‘y’all lost.’ We felt like we woulda gave them a better matchup than Boston. Cause remember, we took Boston to seven (games) that year. Our team was going crazy.
“That whole year with the Celtics, from ’16 to ’18, it was like their funeral. We’d wear black suits to the games.”
Bradley Beal says the 2017 Wizards could've beaten the 2017 Cavs and believes they would've put up a better fight than the Boston Celtics did that year
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Ultimately, after losing to the Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Cleveland beat Boston in five games, and the Golden State Warriors won the title that year in five games.
Beal was traded to the Phoenix Suns last summer.
Like the Wizards, Bradley Beal merely exists in the NBA
There’s no denying Bradley Beal’s individual talent. But he floundered on mostly bad Wizards’ teams for a decade. Even during their prime that Beal is happy to discuss, does he have a signature game, moment or season?
The three-time NBA All-Star has not played more than 60 games since 2018-19 and has missed 150 games over the last five seasons. At his absolute best, he was a good, but never great shooter on good, but never great teams.
Later in the interview, Beal says he believes the Phoenix Suns would’ve been the West’s No. 1 seed if he was healthy.
"I missed 30 games and we won 49 games… If I played half of them games, we are the number 1 seed in the West, or at least competing for the number one seed," said Beal.
Beal also said he almost ended up on the Milwaukee Bucks if they had traded Khris Middleton.
"My transition though to Phoenix was like a complete 360," Beal said. “First off, Phoenix wasn’t even in the picture for me to go to… [The Heat] didn’t want to do it… [The Bucks], I was like straddling the fence. They were [trying to trade Khris Middleton]. … The loyalty part in that, trading somebody who won y’all a championship the previous year and was a key piece to y’all winning the championship, it didn’t sit right with me."
Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Beal will put their best foot forward in Phoenix when their regular season starts on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, October 23, at 7:00 p.m. EST.
The post Bradley Beal’s bold 2017 claim will raise LeBron James’ eyebrow appeared first on ClutchPoints.
