Bradley Beal said the Washington Wizards “fight the league” on Friday against the Milwaukee Bucks with only eight players available and six Wizards outside of the NBA’s safety and health protocol.
After a nine-day hiatus due to a coronavirus outbreak within the team that led to the postponement of five games, the Magi were finally allowed to return to practice on Wednesday evening. But the team only had eight players available and basically made light shooting, according to coach Scott Brooks.
“We couldn’t get into the gym for a week,” said Beal, whose team hasn’t played since Jan. 11 against the Phoenix Suns. “That alters the pace, the way the guys are. That’s exactly like a recipe for an injury, honestly. I think we’re fighting for the league.”
With a lack of healthy bodies and poor conditioning, Beal said he and Russell Westbrook had planned to talk to Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, about the Wizards’ options for staying safe. .
Beal said that in addition to the Wizards wanting to stay injury-free, players across the league have had “mixed feelings” of wanting to keep playing and making money, while keeping themselves and their loved ones safe. .
“We already have guys with injuries,” Beal said. “We now have a huge chunk of our team, at more than 50%, with the virus now … we hear from the league tonight, we know about it tomorrow and we’ll see what they want to do.”
The Wizards, who are scheduled to begin a four-game trip to Milwaukee on Friday, listed Davis Bertans, Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija, Troy Brown Jr., Ish Smith and Moritz Wagner to go out in the game against the Bucks for health and protocol reasons of security.
Westbrook (quad) has been re-evaluated this week and is still out and Thomas Bryant (left ACL) is out of season. Westbrook did some work on the track Wednesday night and will travel with the team on the next road trip. But Brooks said he wasn’t sure when he would be allowed to play Westbrook.
The Wizards are expected to have Beal, Robin Lopez, Raul Neto, Garrison Mathews, Jerome Robinson, Isaac Bonga, Anthony Gill and Cassius Winston available to play.
Brooks said the team could not practice until Wednesday evening. The Wizards are scheduled to practice again Thursday morning with about 3 to 4 p.m. between the two sessions before playing the Bucks.
“It will put us in a very difficult position to play a game Friday night,” Brooks said. “If they make us play, obviously we have to play. I don’t know how we can play it, but we’ll do the best we can, whatever the league tells us what we have to do. I think. I believe in the league.”
The Memphis Grizzlies-Portland Trail Blazers game on Wednesday night became the 16th game the NBA has postponed this season.
“[COVID-19] it’s all about everyone, “Brooks said.” This is not a hoax. There are over 400,000 Americans [who] have died with this virus. And we take it seriously. You’re obviously worried. “