The Washington Wizards announced Monday that they will be without three-time All-Star guard Bradley Beal because of a strained right hamstring.
The diagnosis was uncovered after Beal underwent an MRI one day after being hurt in the first quarter of Washington’s 130-119 loss to the visiting Los Angeles Lakers. Beal played just 3 1/2 minutes, scoring just two points on one shot attempt from the field.
“It was just on a play in the first quarter, he was trying to drive to the basket on the right wing and he just felt a little pull,” coach Wes Unseld Jr. said of Beal’s injury after the game Sunday, per NBC Sports Washington.
The Wizards’ leader this season in both scoring (22.9 points per game) and assists (5.4), Beal is scheduled to miss road games on Wednesday at Chicago and Friday at Indiana as well as Saturday’s home tilt against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The team said in a statement that he will be reevaluated at that time.
Beal, 29, has missed six prior games this season, with the Wizards going 4-2 in his absence. He was out of the lineup for five games early last month while in health and safety protocol, then sat out Washington’s game on Nov. 23 against Miami with a thigh contusion.
Beal, in his 11th season, is coming off a 2021-22 season in which he played a career-low 40 games because of season-ending wrist surgery. He has twice played all 82 games in a season, both in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, and he made the All-Star team in each.
He has career averages of 22.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game across 663 games (629 starts), all with Washington.
–Field Level Media
