With another Washington Wizards season in the books and no playoff appearance, Wizards star Bradly Beal took some time to address a myriad of topics in his exit interview news conference.
One of those topics happened to be Beal’s fan incident that took place following a road game against the Orlando Magic last month.
Bradley Beal Says NBA Fans Have To Stop Being Disrespectful To Players
In his first comments about the incident since it occurred, the Wizards franchise player told reporters that he should’ve maintained his cool, but fans have to stop being so disrespectful.
“Nobody wants to lose money. I get it. If you keep it about sports, I’m all for it.” Beal said Monday. “But I think it’s when people start getting personal talking about your family, talking about your character, your integrity towards the game. I think all of that, we can save it. We can really keep those comments to ourselves.”
Beal’s comments come after the three-time NBA All-Star, swatted the hat off a fan’s head and hit the side of the fan’s face after he made a comment that caused Beal to blow his stack. The vulgar exchange drew a rise from the normally calm Beal.
Fan Wants To Press Charges Against Bradley Beal
Beal’s super rich, with max NBA contract in hand, and he implied that’s why the fan immediately let it be known he wants to press charges. And although there was no surveillance footage of the incident at Amway Center, there was cellphone footage, which was enough to warrant simple battery charges.
That’s the money portion of the statement Beal made in his exit interview presser.
He’s no dummy and being rich means the alleged victim is likely to come for some of that cash. How much will he get remains to be seen, but it’s definitely in the atmosphere. And this is the kind of bad publicity that the thriving NBA wants to put behind itself quickly.
Sports fans have gotten more and more brazen with their entitlement and hostility toward players, and that has caused many more incidents of this nature across all sports, not just the NBA.
Beal Talks What’s Next For Him In NBA Career
With the Wizards finishing 35-47 this season and failing to qualify for the play-in tournament, questions about Beal’s future in Washington arose in the interview. Beal didn’t shy away from the question quickly answering it.
“If I wanted to leave, you guys would definitely hear and know that Beal wants to leave.”
Beal then talked about his frustration level, and missing the postseason again.
“I’m definitely frustrated,” he said. “I’m also at peace with where I am who we are and what we need to do to be better. There’s nothing I can do. I can’t control it, and I’m not going to sit here and cuss everybody out. We know where we failed and how we got to get better. We have to do so.”
Even if the Wizards wanted to move Beal it wouldn’t be easy, considering he just completed the first year of his five-year, $251 million supermax extension.
More news from our partners:
