Bradley Beal put together a really good case for being an All-Star this season.
He’s the NBA’s sixth leading scorer at 28.7 points per game and is pretty much the reason the lowly Wizards have the 9th ranked offense in the entire NBA. To put it plainly, he’s not working with much help in Washington.
Yet, last night, he was one of the most prominent players left off of the All-Star team roster. Kyle Lowry, Jayson Tatum and Khris Middleton were the three perimeter players chosen over him for the East’s All-Star reserves.
Needless to say, Beal was pretty mad about this. To the point where he called it “disrespectful.”
"A little pissed off about it … It's disrespectful. … I'm gonna try and get my team in the playoffs for sure."
Strong words from Bradley Beal postgame when he was asked about missing the All-Star game. pic.twitter.com/VxaZ5VieUn
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 31, 2020
This is fine and reasonable. A player being mad about an All-Star snub is fine — especially a player as good as Beal. With his competitive drive, he probably should be mad about being snubbed.
After the Wizards played against the Hornets on Thursday night, Beal ducked out from media availability after the game before reporters could get into the locker room.
Instead, it was Beal’s fiancé, Kamiah Adams and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, doing all the caping for him after the game.
Adams posted this on her Instagram story after the game.
It’s Ayesha Curry after the 2016 Finals all over again. That wasn’t it, though. She also spoke publicly on the team’s radio show about Beal missing out and called the selection process “politics” and “a joke.”
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
That wasn’t all, though. Bartelstein dropped a whole statement letting the NBA know they’re doing the wrong thing by not rewarding a player who remained loyal to a bad team.
Bradley Beal’s agent Mark Bartelstein rips Eastern Conference coaches for the all-star snub.
Bartelstein: “I think they’ve sent a horrible message.” pic.twitter.com/M0l6SzDiGv
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) January 31, 2020
“[H]e has gone and played his heart out every single night to try and make them as competitive as they can be and coaches have held it against him that he decided to stay the course with the team instead of jumping ship and joining someone’s bandwagon and I think that sends a terrible message.“
Whew, boy. That’s rough.
Bartelstein and Adams both have solid points about Beal. He’s having a great season and isn’t being rewarded for it. But let Beal say these things for himself if he wants to — the same way Damian Lillard did it a few years ago. If he doesn’t? No big deal.
Adams seemed to realize that she probably overstepped a bit by calling out other players in Beal’s name, but once you do that it’s tough to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
Brad still got snubbed . But I’ll never tear someone else down expressing how I feel about it. I misspoke. BRAD STILL GOT SNUBBED. if his stats aren’t that of an allstar, then what is. It’s come to a point where I feel talent is no longer recognized, but popularity is. pic.twitter.com/LSxLIg0r79
— Kamiah Adams (@KamiahAdams) January 31, 2020
It’s fine at the end of the day. It’s a bit awkward right now, but this will all blow over in a few days after cooler heads have a chance to prevail. It’s not as big a deal as people are making it.
Plus, honestly fam, most of us WISH we had a partner that would roll as hard for us the way Adams is rolling for Beal. Shoutout to that.
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