At one point in the last ten years, Bradley Beal had most of the DMV area claiming him as the best shooting guard in the world. This was when he made averaging 30 points feel like anyone could do it, a feat that only occurs in the NBA periodically.
Beal had life even tougher than players like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, who have recorded an efficient 30 points over a full season, as his only legitimate star teammate was Russell Westbrook. Even then, Westbrook was only a Washington Wizard for one out of the two seasons the hometown hero achieved the massive scoring number.
Nonetheless, Beal was nothing less than a superstar for the Wizards, and even when Washington experienced failure, fans and the media did not look to him for blame for the problems.
However, Beal was 29, on the verge of 30, in his last season with the Wizards, and their front office wanted to rebuild. Thus, he was shipped to the Phoenix Suns, where he became teammates with two elite scorers, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
Initially, the Suns treated him like a superstar. They revolved their system around him, specifically when Booker and Durant were either unavailable or on the bench, which allowed him to shoot his shots and prove why the Wizards gave him a no-trade clause. But, demotion slowly occurred, and Beal ended his two seasons with the Suns as a role player.
That said, Bill Simmons, an NBA expert, did not sugarcoat the reality and gave it to LA Clippers fans straight.
Bill Simmons claims that Bradley Beal will still be a role player on the LA Clippers, and he might be right
Bradley Beal joins the LA Clippers as their third, maybe even fourth, best scorer, depending on how Ivica Zubac performs next season. Yet, in today’s league, a top-notch bucket-getter can still be a role player.
Bill Simmons notes(35:42) how fans of the Phoenix Suns connected Beal’s struggles in his job to him being a role-player rather than the superstar he was with the Washington Wizards.
Moreover, if Beal will still be a role player with the Clippers, the popular question appears to be, what will make his stint in LA better than Phoenix?
The answer seems to be that no difference will be portrayed, and fans want to be optimistic about Beal’s change of scenery, but Simmons is being realistic and letting the world know that nothing will be altered.