Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal still hasn’t decided if he’ll take part in the 22-team model to crown a 2019-20 NBA champion amid the coronavirus pandemic, but it appears that he’ll make the call while at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando.
On Monday, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk wrote that Washington head coach Scott Brooks said Beal will travel with the Wizards to the league’s bubble site on Tuesday. Brooks added “we are all still day by day” regarding Beal’s status.
During a videoconference call last week, Beal told reporters that he was “not swayed one way or another” in making his decision on playing. The 27-year-old also admitted he was dealing with some “nagging stuff” physically when the NBA halted play on March 11 due to the pandemic.
Beal hit out at the league’s quarantine protocols, which aren’t keeping him from journeying to Florida.
“That is where a lot of guys are concerned about,” Beal said last week. “We can’t just leave. We can’t just order whatever food we want. We can’t just do activities in which we want to do. We can’t go to our teammate’s room.
“Like there is a lot of (stuff) that we can’t do. So it’s tough. I get from a mental awareness standpoint that you are so used to doing this on the road, now you are constrained and restricted.”
The Wizards trail the Orlando Magic by 5.5 games for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Washington must get to within four games of the No. 8 seed to force a play-in series.
