76ers Rival Wizards Will Miss Key Star for Several Games
One of the Philadelphia 76ers’ conference rivals are dealing with a notable setback for the time being. On Monday, the Washington Wizards announced that their star guard Bradley Beal would miss a handful of games moving forward. According to the team, Beal is battling a hamstring strain.
Beal suffered his recent setback during the team’s Sunday night outing against the Los Angeles Lakers. He checked out of the game after appearing on the court for just three minutes.
After receiving Beal’s diagnosis, the Wizards ruled the All-Star out for at least the next three games. Beal will then be re-evaluated sometime early on next week.
The Wizards will continue their schedule on Wednesday night with a matchup on the road against the Chicago Bulls. Then, they’ll face the Indiana Pacers on Friday before quickly returning home and hosting the Los Angeles Clippers for the second matchup of a back-to-back.
The earliest Beal could return to the court is next Monday against the Brooklyn Nets. Considering the Wizards will go through a re-evaluation process with Beal before setting a return date, there is a chance the star guard misses time beyond the Brooklyn matchup next week.
Philadelphia and Washington next face each other later this month. After the Sixers and the Wizards battled it out twice in October, the Sixers will pay a visit to DC for the second and final time on December 27. By then, Washington should have Beal back in the mix, and the matchup could be critical before the end of 2022.
To start the season off, only a few teams have separated themselves from the pack in the Eastern Conference. To no surprise, the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks are the top two teams, with records of 20-5 and 17-6.
Meanwhile, both the Sixers and the Wizards are around the middle of the pack. For Washington, they are 11-13 to start the year, hitting a snag as of late as they’ve gone 3-7 in their last ten matchups, with three-straight losses.
As for the Sixers, they’re in a similar boat as they suffered their third-straight loss on Monday night in Houston while dropping to 12-12. While facing Beal and the Wizards this season, the Sixers split matchups by picking up a victory on the road and dropping their matchup against Washington at home.
For now, it’s unclear whether both teams will be healthy or not when they face off for a third time later this month, as both organizations have notable players on the injured list.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
