5 ways John Wall and Bradley Beal can repair their relationship
By Ian Levy
John Wall and Bradley Beal have never quite made beautiful music on the court. Maybe it’s because their relationship needs a little bit of work?
In a recent interview with Chris Miller of CSN, Wall admitted that, “I think a lot of times we have a tendency to dislike each other on the court.” Private thoughts are one thing but admitting you don’t really like your backcourt partner, one that your team just signed to a five-year, $127 million contract, is quite another.
The size of Beal’s contract is obviously a point of friction and Wall went out of his way to explain how he sees the pecking order. “He’s my sidekick. I’m A. He’s A-1,” he told CSN.
The two reportedly don’t mesh in personality or interests and there has been just enough overlap in their games — creating offense off the dribble and a propensity for pull-up jumpers — to keep the Washington Wizards from living up to expectations. Washington is heavily invested in this pairing and the issue is not talent, it’s finding a way to work together.
All relationships need work and for the Wizards to hit their ceiling this season, they need some smoothing of the rockiness between Wall and Beal. Here are a few suggestions for undoing the negativity of the past few weeks, for turning frenemies into friends.
Next: 5. Take a bro-cation